Lady LUX

As L’Oréal USA’s chief marketing officer, Marc Speichert has much to say about the changing face of the beauty marketplace, reported WWD.

“How do we find white spaces? How do we break through and how do we leverage digital to drive consideration in a new way?” Speichert, who presides over L’Oréal USA’s four divisions, asked about the rapidly changing market for beauty goods, according to WWD.

Tasked with producing synergy among L’Oréal’s divisions and encouraging innovation within the company, the executive is currently concentrating on creating digital initiatives for all 23 of the firm’s brands.

“2010 has been declared the year of digital by our CEO, Jean-Paul Agon. [This has] really mobilized our entire organization to bring digital to a whole new level,” Speichert reported to WWD.

Speichert believes that historically the shopping process used to be linear, but today’s informed consumer prefers to check out products on the Web multiple times before making a purchase.

“[It’s a] much more circular, more complex process, but also one that’s exciting and lets us talk to consumers in a very different way,” said Speichert.

Although much of its advertising is still fairly traditional, Speichert advocates for a contextually relevant digital presence that focuses on the individual consumer.

“The sophistication level that consumers have in terms of research of content is getting greater and greater,” said Speichert. “Instead of creating one video that will generate a million views, how do we create thousands of videos that will answer those very specific content needs?”

The beauty brand, therefore, has partnered with Demand Media — a firm that surveys consumer behavior in order to match shoppers with appropriate content — representing one of the largest digital investments the company has made thus far.

L’Oréal also has plans to reach out to Hispanic consumers, having recently teamed up with Telemundo Communications Group, a company that boasts a dedicated telenovela following. Club De Noveleras, the first official club for telenovela enthusiasts, is sponsored by L’Oréal lines such as Maybelline and Garnier.

“This is the beginning of a journey that is going to be very transformational for us,” Speichert revealed. “We need to reinvent ourselves and be very visionary in terms of where we think beauty will be going.”

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