July 7, 2017
Louis Vuitton Series 6 ad campaign. Image credit: Louis Vuitton
Luxury conglomerate Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is gathering employees, students and entrepreneurs for a weekend dedicated to experimentation and innovation.
The group’s DARE program, named for the acronym Disrupt, Act, Risk to be an Entrepreneur, will see 12 ideas from LVMH workers developed and evaluated, bringing these concepts to fruition in a startup-style environment. LVMH and its brands frequently solicit ideas and seek partners who will help drive the group into the future.
Courting innovation
LVMH’s DARE began with a call for ideas. The group asked about 4,000 managers, talent with high potential and millennial-aged managers to apply, and more than 500 responded with interest.
Of this pool, 60 “idea sponsors” were chosen to participate. These individuals come from 15 countries and work at 40 different houses.
These 60 talents will pitch their ideas on the evening of July 7, with a panel whittling down the entries to 12 finalists. Teams consisting of LVMH employees and students from target schools for the company will then develop these 12 ideas over the weekend.
Along their journey, the teams will be mentored by LVMH CEOs and entrepreneurs from outside the company. These entrepreneurs will help the groups assemble their final pitch and test their prototype ahead of an evaluation on Sunday, July 9.
LVMH's DARE asks employees for their ideas. Image credit: LVMH
The work will then be presented and judged by a panel that includes chief digital officer Ian Rogers, group executive vice president human resources and synergies Chantal Gaemperle, chief strategy officer Jean Baptiste Voisin, Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin and group managing director Toni Belloni. The judges will also include outside entrepreneurs.
LVMH is planning to repeat this initiative from Oct. 9-12, soliciting ideas on sustainability for a DARE Green weekend.
Similarly to its parent company, LVMH flagship brand Louis Vuitton held its second hackathon last June in France.
Louis Vuitton’s “Unlock Supply Chain” hackathon was in partnership with smart business platform Anaplan and BeMyApp at Ecole 42. The 48-hour hackathon invited student teams to work on developing a future supply chain model for Louis Vuitton using the Anaplan platform (see story).
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