MAM
Agencies invited to tender for BBC Media Services
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has begun the first stage in its search for a media agency for combined services.
Two BBC business areas have joined together for the first time to invite expressions of interest in an initial three-year contract for media strategy, planning and buying services.
The move – bringing together the BBC‘s Marketing and Audiences and Licence Fee Units – will improve financial efficiencies across the corporation while retaining a focus on quality and creativity.
Announcing the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) for the tendering process, director of media engagement and marketing and audiences North Simon Lloyd, said that the successful agency would be required to work closely with the BBC‘s Media Engagement team to assist in the media planning and buying of all non-BBC media.
Agencies will be asked to demonstrate strong digital and specialist media capabilities as part of the ?5m to ?6m annual contract.
“The type of media bought by the BBC has changed over the last few years, with a steady rise in digital space and outdoor media. More than half of the media bought by BBC Marketing & Audiences last year was digital, giving us the opportunity to communicate with our audiences using display and mobile channels,” Lloyd said.
BBC TV Licensing Head of Sales and Marketing Peter Kirk welcomed the joint tender across BBC Divisions, in a move which is intended to improve value for the licence fee payer.
“The appointed agency will be required to negotiate and buy media for the Licence Fee Unit across paid-for media channels including display, video-on-demand and search marketing,” Kirk added. “We‘ll be looking for an agency which demonstrates an understanding of BBC and TV Licensing strategic objectives and a solid commitment to achieving value for money”.
The appointed agency will be required to plan and buy media for TV Licensing in close partnership with BBC strategic agencies.
Successful media agencies are invited to complete and submit a PQQ by 25 January 2012. A short list of agencies will be selected and invited to formally tender for the business in March 2012.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
