MAM
The Media Edge buoyed by increase ad spends by Tata group companies
MUMBAI: Rediffusion DY&R India’s media division The Media Edge (TME) headed by Divya Gupta is gearing up for some high-profile campaigns. The media independent is also vying with other top media agencies like Lowe’s Initiative and Madison Media for the No. 2 position behind the country’s largest media independent WPP Media comprising MindShare and Maximise amongst others.
Between September and December 2003, TME will be involved in the most ambitious advertising campaign ever conceived by Tata group company Titan Industries Watch division.
Titan Industries Watch COO Bijou Kurien confirms that the company will spend Rs 85-90 million on a multimedia advertising campaign during the next quarter. “Ogilvy and Mather Bangalore has been our creative agency right from the very beginning. The releasing agency will be The Media Edge.”
In a move aimed at enhanced synergy, economies of scale and enhanced media clout, the Tata group has recently decided to channelise its media operations through a single agency – The Media Edge. The collection ad spend of the entire Tata group is supposed to be in the range of Rs 1.5 billion.
TME media director Divya Radhakrishnan, who was present during the Titan Industries new world watch launch press conference held in Mumbai on 23 September 2003, adds that there is heightened activity on other Tata group accounts. They are Tata Motors automobiles (Indigo, Indica, Tata SUVs, commercial vehicles amongst others), Tata Indicom (the ISP and Internet services), Tata AIG (insurance joint venture company) amongst others.
Sources also add that Indian Hotels – Taj group of hotels – will start its campaign sometime towards the end of the year in November and December 2003.
Looks like the increased activity within the Tata group will definitely give a fillip to the consolidated billings of The Media Edge.
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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.
