Traackr has partnered with Olivier Cimelière for this interview, which is a part of our world sequence “Influencer Advertising 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 World CDO Workforce, to discover how the world’s magnificence chief is creating 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 considered one of its predominant communication and advertising and marketing technique drivers. But this method stays an formidable and difficult train to roll out throughout a portfolio made up of 34 manufacturers*, every with values, positionings and core targets that differ/fluctuate from one market and technology to the opposite. The problem is to reconcile world consistency and native relevance to generate as a lot relational impression as attainable with influencers and their communities.
[OC] How and why did influencer advertising and marketing turn out to be considered one of L’Oréal’s high digital technique priorities?
[MD] Influencing our ecosystem has at all times been an intrinsic a part of L’Oréal’s actions. Properly earlier than digital reshuffled the playing cards, hairdressers had been the primary influencers recommending our merchandise to their purchasers. 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 shoppers. That is all of the extra necessary since shoppers 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 position although, as they create traits and set off new dynamics round subjects carefully associated to L’Oréal manufacturers. In relation to magnificence advertising and marketing, we at the moment are seeing Digital Native Manufacturers rising. An instance of that is mannequin Kylie Jenner, who joined forces with Nip + Fab, a spread of cosmetics obtainable completely on-line and promoted by way of social media. I might additionally point out the make-up model Anastasia Beverly Hills, which emerged in an identical means.
For us, it’s important to be lively inside these communities and to interact with authoritative influencers. Primarily based on their very own fashion of expression and goal markets, every model identifies and categorises influencers. This mapping could naturally fluctuate relying on market section or nation. However typically talking, we distinguish two kinds of influencers:
- These with an enormous following that transcend nationwide borders, with whom we are inclined to concentrate on quick to long-term contractual relations and at occasions exclusivities and co-creations.
- Native micro-influencers which can be 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 manage 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 fluctuate from one area to a different?
[MD] Roles are exactly and pragmatically divided up. The Worldwide Advertising Route is tasked with creating and overseeing the picture platform for every model, drawing on guidelines and tips that native markets must observe. Additionally it is accountable for managing instantly some world 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 Pageant. A couple of days earlier than, Isabelle Adjani additionally joined the circle, and revealed the information on her personal Instagram account.
Nonetheless, creating and consolidating engagement with influencers and their communities is an area affair break up between our Advertising, Communication and Digital groups, relying on the model’s targets 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 to be like based mostly on given themes, and add their creations to YouTube and Instagram. One of the best appears to be like are awarded by a jury made up of L’Oréal representatives and native influencers and are then carried by to a worldwide last held in a prestigious location.
The interconnection between world and native is fixed. World can launch initiatives such because the “YSL Magnificence Membership”, an internet boutique and pop-up nightclub that excursions the world. Behind-the-scenes pictures of the occasion are primarily shared on Instagram with help from the native groups. Up to now, 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 by way of influencer advertising and marketing inside L’Oréal. Is there not at occasions a threat of price range loss or a dilution of the messages?
[MD] Heavy-handedly imposing a inflexible framework on every model, completely and regardless of location, shouldn’t be a part of L’Oréal’s tradition. L’Oréal has at all times sought to place initiative first. However that does not imply that folks ought to work in accordance with their inventiveness of the day! Each model units out its working strategies and defines the content material for use to help its influencer advertising and marketing. Aside from a handful of particular world manufacturers, the structuring effort of manufacturers’ native governance is vital. Native groups must develop a granular information of their influencers and the power to evaluate their potential affect in particular areas. This method is totally essential to restrict overlaps in expression territories between influencers, and in addition to keep away from message saturation, which scrambles/blurs the impression and does not essentially optimize allotted budgets. That is the place a platform like Traackr turns into a valuable asset. It helps us fine-tune our understanding of the native ecosystem, put ahead actually fascinating influencer profiles and higher calibrate price range ressources. This administration is crucial. It allows 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 groups are at all times concerned:
- Due to its PR and press tradition, Communication is central to reworking the relationships with the influencers and their communities.
- Digital is extra concerned in technological elements reminiscent of deciding on 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 is chargeable for designing a 360-degree method and defining price range allocation between on-line and offline, based mostly on the well-established mannequin combining “earned, owned, shared and paid media” in an effort to generate interactions, viralisation and enterprise leads.
We even have companies engaged on these elements, supporting and advising us to optimize operations.
[OC] How are these direct relationships necessary for L’Oréal manufacturers?
[MD] It is essential that now we 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 concentrating on and offers us perception into their typical day. That is based mostly 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 roughly emphasize one or a number of standards utilizing digital initiatives and offline actions. Nonetheless, I’ve observed that with digital, affect could be fast. Clients can get a product’s worth on Instagram as an illustration. In the event that they’re satisfied, they’ll then instantly click on over to an internet retailer.
[OC] What do you suppose are the important thing upcoming stakes for influencer advertising and marketing?
[MD] For my part, there are three subjects which can be already being mentioned, and that are set to accentuate:
- The primary pertains to influencer relationships and price range optimization. The concentrate on the Return On Funding goes to develop, as digital packages get/are deployed.
- The Common Information Safety Regulation (GDPR) enforcement within the European Union from Could twenty fifth 2018 indicators the rising strain regulators and shoppers will placed on using private knowledge. This authorized facet is one thing we’ll must an increasing number of combine.
- Lastly, e-reputation dangers are extra delicate than ever. Because of this it is so necessary to know the influencers you select to work with, to keep away from any nasty surprises.
Past these three subjects, innovation will carry on being important to face out from the group. Utilizing influencers is beginning to really feel somewhat jaded now for the influencers themselves in addition to for some advertisers. We have to concentrate on genuine voices. Shoppers aren’t naive. This implies we at all times want to seek out new activations to persuade influencers to work with us. This may imply collaborating on creating a long-term model, for instance. The concept is to keep away from taking a scattergun method and to do as per the english saying: fewer however larger!
[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: now we have to know every model’s particular ecosystem in an effort to outline a coherent concentrating on with related actions. Take dermatologic model La Roche Posay, for instance. It is core goal is each B2B (healthcare professionals) and B2C (shoppers with skincare issues). Amongst them, now we have to detect probably the most applicable 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 turn out to be the face of the model in March 2018, which proved to be an enormous hit along with her followers around the globe. 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 at all times require asking ourselves the proper questions and listening to social media earlier than creating 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 duty 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 actual 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 massive worldwide firms reminiscent of Bœhringer Ingelheim, Nestlé Waters, Ericsson, Google and Ipsos.
*Supply : L’Oréal Group company web site
