One of the distinctive characteristics of NEOMA’s MSc International Luxury Management (IMLux) programme are the range of opportunities it offers to students to develop their professional skills and competences. Students are exposed to several luxury brands and in addition to coming into close contact with senior executives from these firms, they are in a position to gain hands-on knowledge of major aspects of luxury management. During the recently ended first semester, three different types of professional activities were organised.

“Learning from Industry Professionals”

This cycle of conferences was devoted to various themes including digital and social media; business sectors (fashion, jewellery, cosmetics, champagne, etc.); retail and consumer experience.

In all, almost 40 such conferences were hosted with speakers coming from a number of prestigious firms and institutions: Bulgari Hotels, Boucheron, Céline, Comité Colbert, Champagne Baron de Rothschild, Christian Louboutin, Coty, Dior Couture & Parfums, Facebook, Guerlain, Gucci, Le Bon Marché, Moët & Hennessey, Royal Champagne, Ruinart, etc.

Each conference lasted for 90 minutes and was also open to students from other NEOMA programmes such as MSc Luxury Marketing, and the Executive Education Luxury in a Globalised World certificate.

Experiencing luxury firms strategic challenges

The second activity enabling students to acquire a concrete experience of the strategic challenges facing luxury firms were two real business cases conducted in collaboration with Prada, an exclusive partner of the IMLux programme, and FRED Jewelry (LVMH group).

E-commerce with FRED

This was the second consecutive year IMLux students were collaborating with FRED and they were required to develop e-commerce and omnichannel strategies, linking merchandising, product offering and customer experience. Two FRED executives and NEOMA alumni, Caroline Nani Bigot and Pauline Baltz piloted the project. “The students presented very creative work, including new technologies, to offer a complete qualitative experience to customers. They were able to demonstrate rigour and be proactive in their presentations to the jury“, observed Caroline Nani Bigot.

CSR with Prada

The Prada project focused on a crucial theme for the Italian fashion house, namely Diversity Equity and Inclusion and was appropriately entitled “A Road to Championship”. The project served to provide a cross-industry benchmark on DEI strategies adopted by multinational corporations in Europe, Middle East and Far East, highlighting similarities and distinctive elements. As Arturo, IMLux student noted, “it was a great challenge to work on such a delicate but at the same time stimulating topic. Having to make concrete recommendations tailored to each market was extremely interesting”.

Generation issues with Krug

In addition to these two business cases, IMLux students were also fortunate to have the opportunity to directly make presentations to Margareth Henriquez, the charismatic CEO of champagne house KRUG (LVMH group). The presentations revolved around Gen Zers’ perceptions and experience of the luxury sector, and, more particularly, exceptional champagne brands.

Close contact with luxury sector senior executives

The third and final activity involving industry professionals consisted of several workshops and master classes that were held both in Reims and during the Paris Study Tour.

Luxury brand communication

A two-day workshop with Laurent Perves, CMO/COO of watch brand Vacheron Constantin (Richemont group),

Fashion brand storytelling

A day-long event conducted by Serge Carreira from the French Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion,

Human resources in the luxury industry

One day workshop hosted by Benjamin Rang, HR director of La Samaritaine (LVMH group).

“During the first semester in Reims, we were able to cover a wide range of industries and topics such as fashion, wines and spirits, cosmetics and perfume, watches and jewellery, and hospitality. We also had the opportunity to discover hot new topics like Web 3.0, the metaverse and NFTs. This was what made the programme so enriching,” said Felix, IMLux student.

“At IMLux, we strongly believe in the virtue of experimentation and exposure to professionals. We keep working on increasing the visibility of the programme within the luxury industry. And we try and  recruit the best students possible. It is proving to be a winning strategy as this double degree programme with MIP Politecnico di Milano, has moved up to 2^nd rank in the Eduniversal 2022 best “luxury management” masters!” said enthusiastically Dilip Subramanian, of NEOMA’s MSc International Luxury Management director.