How Louis Vuitton Took Social Responsibility To The Next Level
The art of staying ahead in a time of crisis.
On 15th March, Louis Vuitton announced that creating and donating hand sanitizers for hospitals to help tackle the COVID-19, 3 days after the government announced that they needed help from big companies.
Following the announcement, Louis Vuitton then announced that they will be turning their perfume production factory into gels, including the pumping bottles.
“LVMH will use the production lines of its perfume and cosmetic brands … to produce large quantities of hydroalcoholic gels from Monday," — Reported from The Reuters.
After producing them, Louis Vuitton is handing them out to hospitals and other health industries for free. They have been donating 12 tonnes of it to the 39 hospitals in Paris.
3 days!! They were able to get approval to create something they have never made before in 3 days! Can you believe it??
A few days after, other big companies began to join in too. Loreal is also creating hand sanitizers for hospitals, BNP Paribas donated 500,000 masks for them as well, and Renault lends 1,300 cars for them.
This showed us all how agile Louis Vuitton is to respond, demonstrating great leadership in acting now, and I think this is something we all can learn from. Acting fast can help you keep you ahead in your game, which is what Louis Vuitton did here. There are three strategies that the company did to keep them on the lead:
1) Act now
The government announced that they are in need of assistance from big companies, including Louis Vuitton. If the government needs help, then you know this means serious business, especially since it may impact the locals as well. This was where Bernard Arnault, the CEO of Louis Vuitton, probably put this as his first priority because he was able to make the factory produce hand sanitizers in 3 days after the announcement.
Though further detail wasn’t reported, we can still analyze a few things that were given. A staff who works for Bernard Arnault said that he is quick to make decisions.
Although it’s not recommended to do rash decisions, but based on this statement, you can see that he is a very curious man. The fact that he throws a lot of questions basically says it all, that he wants to make things work now and fast. In this case, he wants to respond to this emergency state without further delay.
For us, just like chasing after our dreams, we always hear people telling us to start now and don’t wait. If we wait, then we won’t be staying up ahead in our game and Louis Vuitton is very aware of this. Though it isn’t stated, it’s obvious that they got to work fast to figure out what to do to with the situation, leading to my next point….
2) Identify your strength
Louis Vuitton has a lot of connections regarding perfume production when it acquired companies such as Givenchy, Guerlain, and Dior made perfumes and cosmetics. So as you can see here, no doubt that there is a big connection going on.
The company has been producing perfumes and cosmetics, their ingredients are somewhat similar to the hand sanitizers. Hand sanitizers need four things: Alcohol Ethanol, Glycerin, Hydrogen Peroxide (These chemicals are usually found in cosmetics), and boiling water (Used to create perfumes). That means Louis Vuitton has about 80 % of the resources needed to create the hand sanitizers.
So as you can see here, Louis Vuitton had the resources to create something else besides fashion: the bottles and the chemicals needed. Their diversification is so great that it helped them to create something that no one ever thought that fashion retail can create. They could have money, sure, but at this point, I am sure Mr. Arnaults realize that money won’t be enough to fight the disease, especially when everyone’s lives are at stake.
Just like us, it’s important to know what your strength is. Obviously, you must also know your weakness, but you must put your strength as an advantage as well. It will help you find a way to make an effective plan to reach your goals faster instead of having a messy plan, just like what Louis Vuitton did, leading to my last point…..
3) Connection
This is really important because you won’t be able to act fast when your business relationship with the other isn’t working, especially when you are making a decision to immediately switch the product.
Luckily, the staff of the company has very strong connections. Marc-Antoine Jamet, the General Secretary of LVMH, has a friend, Martin Hirsch, whom he met from school. He is a doctor and currently working as a high-ranking civil servant, running the biggest hospital systems of Paris. Mr. Jamet contacted Mr. Martin regarding the decision to create hand sanitizers because he wants to make sure that their ingredients are safe to create one, especially since the company has no experience in it.
When Martin sent a scientific advisor to analyze the ingredients, they found that it is slightly different than the World Health Organization’s criteria, so they had to test it and ask for the health ministration’s approval.
Again, Mr. Jamet is also a friend of the health ministration, Olivier Veran. They used to work together about the health of models. Anyways, Mr. Jamet gave Mr. Olivier a call about the situation, and sure enough, he sent someone to look over the test.
By the time they have finished the test, Louis Vuitton has finally earned their approval. The factory was up and ready to create hand sanitizers for hospitals.
So as you can see here if Mr. Jamet didn’t have a good connection with the external parties, there will be no way Louis Vuitton could act upon this decision fast.
What we can take
This act of social responsibility was given a lot of positive comments from the public. Not only were they able to uplift themselves but they already earn their trust, which is important for any business. Louis Vuitton was able to:
- Act now
- Identify your strength
- Strong connections
This act of agile thinking on creating a social responsibility created a huge spark for others to take action and help as well. All because Louis Vuitton was fast to react first that made the initiation of these project happens, a true sense of leadership.
Once when this is all over, I am certain that their sales will rise again from this act of goodwill.
I hope you learn something from here and stay safe!
