Traackr has partnered with Olivier Cimelière for this interview, which is a part of our international sequence “Influencer Advertising and marketing at Scale”.
Regardless of being a venerable century-old group, L’Oréal was fast to embrace the subject of digital affect that is been disrupting model communication and advertising and marketing. For Traackr, Olivier Cimelière met with Marc Duquesnoy, Social Media Efficiency Director for the L’Oréal Group’s International CDO Workforce, to discover how the world’s magnificence chief is growing and designing on-line actions with influencers in 150 international locations throughout which the corporate boasts over 250 million social media followers*.
Ploughing 38%* of its media price range into digital, L’Oréal has turned digital into one in all its fundamental communication and advertising and marketing technique drivers. But this strategy stays an bold and difficult train to roll out throughout a portfolio made up of 34 manufacturers*, every with values, positionings and core targets that differ/range from one market and era to the opposite. The problem is to reconcile international consistency and native relevance to generate as a lot relational influence as doable with influencers and their communities.
[OC] How and why did influencer advertising and marketing grow to be one in all L’Oréal’s high digital technique priorities?
[MD] Influencing our ecosystem has all the time been an intrinsic a part of L’Oréal’s actions. Effectively earlier than digital reshuffled the playing cards, hairdressers have been the primary influencers recommending our merchandise to their shoppers. Then magazines, opinion leaders and celebrities turned affect drivers to nurture this word-of-mouth, which stays important for model adoption. The fast ascent of digital influencers has naturally led us to broaden our communication and advertising and marketing technique.
These influencers improve our legitimacy and act as reliable relays to our customers. That is all of the extra necessary since customers are more and more cautious of promoting and model messages, but in addition higher knowledgeable, notably due to influencers’ content material. Influencers play a much bigger function although, as they create developments and set off new dynamics round matters intently associated to L’Oréal manufacturers. In relation to magnificence advertising and marketing, we are actually seeing Digital Native Manufacturers rising. An instance of that is mannequin Kylie Jenner, who joined forces with Nip + Fab, a variety of cosmetics out there solely on-line and promoted through social media. I might additionally point out the make-up model Anastasia Beverly Hills, which emerged in an analogous manner.
For us, it’s important to be energetic inside these communities and to have interaction with authoritative influencers. Based mostly on their very own model of expression and goal markets, every model identifies and categorises influencers. This mapping could naturally range relying on market section or nation. However usually talking, we distinguish two forms of influencers:
- These with an enormous following that transcend nationwide borders, with whom we are inclined to give attention to brief to long-term contractual relations and at occasions exclusivities and co-creations.
- Native micro-influencers which are simply as necessary as they communicate to very particular communities. With them, we’re extra within the realm of product sends, or invitation to an occasion or an expertise.
[OC] How do you arrange your influencer advertising and marketing technique, contemplating the L’Oréal group has a portfolio of 34 manufacturers and operates in 150 international locations? How do you handle such a complexity when market realities can range from one area to a different?
[MD] Roles are exactly and pragmatically divided up. The Worldwide Advertising and marketing Course is tasked with growing and overseeing the picture platform for every model, drawing on guidelines and pointers that native markets have to comply with. It is usually answerable for managing straight some international influencers and internationally famend figureheads. L’Oréal Paris is an instance of this, having taken on French actress Louise Bourgoin as model ambassador in Could 2018. She then made her first look on the Cannes Movie Competition. Just a few days earlier than, Isabelle Adjani additionally joined the circle, and revealed the information on her personal Instagram account.
Nevertheless, growing and consolidating engagement with influencers and their communities is a neighborhood affair break up between our Advertising and marketing, Communication and Digital groups, relying on the model’s aims and standards. An illustration of that is the Face Awards by make-up model NYX. Over the previous three years and in several international locations, amateurs and professionals have been invited to create their very own make-up appears primarily based on given themes, and add their creations to YouTube and Instagram. One of the best appears are awarded by a jury made up of L’Oréal representatives and native influencers and are then carried by means of to a worldwide closing held in a prestigious location.
The interconnection between international and native is fixed. International can launch initiatives such because the “YSL Magnificence Membership”, an internet boutique and pop-up nightclub that excursions the world. Behind-the-scenes photographs of the occasion are primarily shared on Instagram with assist from the native groups. Thus far, London, Los Angeles, Berlin and Paris have already hosted the “Yves Saint Laurent Magnificence Membership“.
[OC] If I perceive appropriately, there may be nonetheless a substantial amount of freedom when it comes to influencer advertising and marketing inside L’Oréal. Is there not at occasions a danger of price range loss or a dilution of the messages?
[MD] Heavy-handedly imposing a inflexible framework on every model, completely and no matter location, just isn’t a part of L’Oréal’s tradition. L’Oréal has all the time sought to place initiative first. However that does not imply that folks ought to work in line with their inventiveness of the day! Each model units out its working strategies and defines the content material for use to assist its influencer advertising and marketing. Aside from a handful of particular international manufacturers, the structuring effort of manufacturers’ native governance is essential. Native groups have to develop a granular information of their influencers and the power to evaluate their potential affect in particular areas. This strategy is completely essential to restrict overlaps in expression territories between influencers, and in addition to keep away from message saturation, which scrambles/blurs the influence and does not essentially optimize allotted budgets. That is the place a platform like Traackr turns into a treasured asset. It helps us fine-tune our understanding of the native ecosystem, put ahead actually attention-grabbing influencer profiles and higher calibrate price range ressources. This administration is important. It permits us to anticipate, monitor actions and measure ROI for every nation.
[OC] Which groups are primarily concerned in influencer advertising and marketing actions?
[MD] There is not any particular hierarchy, however the Communication, Digital and Advertising and marketing groups are all the time concerned:
- Due to its PR and press tradition, Communication is central to remodeling the relationships with the influencers and their communities.
- Digital is extra concerned in technological features similar to choosing the skilled softwares and platforms, like Traackr, that we use. In addition they work on operations and the exploitation of statistical and analytical knowledge.
- Lastly, Advertising and marketing is chargeable for designing a 360-degree strategy and defining price range allocation between on-line and offline, primarily based on the well-established mannequin combining “earned, owned, shared and paid media” to be able to generate interactions, viralisation and enterprise leads.
We even have businesses engaged on these features, supporting and advising us to optimize operations.
[OC] How are these direct relationships necessary for L’Oréal manufacturers?
[MD] It is essential that we now have a correct understanding of our influencers’ audiences. What do their communities anticipate, what are their usages? This in-depth understanding permits us to refine our buyer focusing on and provides us perception into their typical day. That is primarily based on 4 key standards: Consciousness (the model’s visibility), Consideration (the model’s credibility), Buy (the act of shopping for) and Suggestion (word-of-mouth and loyalty).
Relying on how a model is perceived on a given market, we’ll then kind of emphasize one or a number of standards utilizing digital initiatives and offline actions. Nevertheless, I’ve observed that with digital, affect could be fast. Clients can get a product’s worth on Instagram as an example. In the event that they’re satisfied, they will then straight click on over to an internet retailer.
[OC] What do you assume are the important thing upcoming stakes for influencer advertising and marketing?
[MD] In my view, there are three matters which are already being mentioned, and that are set to accentuate:
- The primary pertains to influencer relationships and price range optimization. The give attention to the Return On Funding goes to develop, as digital packages get/are deployed.
- The Common Knowledge Safety Regulation (GDPR) enforcement within the European Union from Could twenty fifth 2018 alerts the rising strain regulators and customers will placed on using private knowledge. This authorized facet is one thing we’ll have to increasingly combine.
- Lastly, e-reputation dangers are extra delicate than ever. This is the reason it is so necessary to know the influencers you select to work with, to keep away from any nasty surprises.
Past these three matters, innovation will carry on being important to face out from the gang. Utilizing influencers is beginning to really feel a bit of jaded now for the influencers themselves in addition to for some advertisers. We have to give attention to genuine voices. Shoppers aren’t naive. This implies we all the time want to search out new activations to persuade influencers to work with us. This would possibly imply collaborating on growing a long-term model, for instance. The concept is to keep away from taking a scattergun strategy and to do as per the english saying: fewer however greater!
[OC] How do you draw up influencer methods for manufacturers that each one belong to the L’Oréal group, however which function in very totally different worlds?
[MD] This comes again to what I stated earlier: we now have to know every model’s particular ecosystem to be able to outline a coherent focusing on with related actions. Take dermatologic model La Roche Posay, for instance. It is core goal is each B2B (healthcare professionals) and B2C (customers with skincare issues). Amongst them, we now have to detect probably the most acceptable influencers and give you significant advertising and marketing actions. However there is no level in replicating throughout manufacturers. Lancôme, for instance, is way more of a standing model, and due to this fact supported by well-known faces within the luxurious world. That is why star blogger Chiara Ferragni was chosen to grow to be the face of the model in March 2018, which proved to be a large hit along with her followers world wide. One other good instance is cosmetics model Kiehl’s for which the native facet is vital, as their merchandise are primarily implanted in retail. It all the time require asking ourselves the precise questions and listening to social media earlier than growing a plan.
That being stated, influencer advertising and marketing may come from inside the corporate. Final April at L’Oréal, we launched Seed Phytonutrients, a brand new magnificence model which DNA is native environmental accountability and with seeds being its star ingredient. Working with three different collaborators, farmer and L’Oréal Common Model Supervisor Shane Wolf got here up with the idea, and is now additionally the figurehead of the model promotion. Finally, humanization is the true affect!
About Olivier Cimelière
Olivier Cimelière is founding president of Heuristik Communications, a boutique consultancy specialised in communication technique, repute administration and editorial affect for leaders and firms. A former journalist in print media and radio, he then held company communication duties inside giant worldwide firms similar to Bœhringer Ingelheim, Nestlé Waters, Ericsson, Google and Ipsos.
*Supply : L’Oréal Group company web site
