MAM
Maxus adopts blue tooth marketing campaign for Lee
MUMBAI: In an effort to add a different dimension to mobile marketing for its client Lee, Maxus Interaction, the digital media arm of Maxus, is conducting a blue casting campaign in Mumbai and Bangalore.
The activity is targeted at people who own a blue tooth enabled mobile phone in a retail environment. Exclusive Lee content and mobile coupon are provided to download in a blue casting zone. The agency claims that this is a first time blue tooth based technology used large promotion in India.
The first analysis of the campaign suggested that their has been over 28 per cent conversion of people accepting the Lee content and have interacted with the brand (either by downloading wallpaper, collection catalogue and TVC.) A contest has also been plugged in so that the customer who gets the correct answer can win a 10 per cent disc mobile coupon which he can immediately redeem at the store on his purchase in the mall.
Even new applications like the Fit Finder or the Mobile Catalogue have been pushed and according to the statistics people have downloaded the entire application. To use the Fit Finder, you need to key in your vital statistics (weight, height and so on) via your cell phone. The Fit Finder will then recommend your best fit jeans, states an official release.
Lee head marketing Priya Sanghvi says, “With an overwhelming figure of 5 million mobile subscribers being added every month and growing, we could not find a better platform to interact with the youth. The primary use of a cell phone for the youth is SMS. From our study we also found out that a good 30 per cent + have GPRS/bluetooth connectivity and actively use this facility for content download. The sheer usage and the technological interactivity that this media gives convinced us that mobile is the perfect medium to tap into our Target audience.
“We experimented with the activity in high-end malls across Bangalore and Mumbai and the result from the activity was overwhelming with around 20,000 downloads in one month. The contest and the wallpapers being the highest content downloaded. Apart from completing our objective of targeting our TG through a new age medium and reinforcing the communication by interactivity, Lee is one of the first brands to take small steps in shifting from traditional media to new age media.”
Handling the media planning and buying for the brand Maxus general manager Sriram Sharma says, “Lee is an iconic brand among the youth in India. A mobile handset plays an integral role in the life of every youth, so does wearing jeans. This insight helped us to use this platform to reach out to our target group in a very relevant and most cost efficient environment.”
Says GroupM – Interaction business director Vinod Thadani, “We as an agency have always been innovative and suggest our clients what are the latest developments in mobile marketing and how we can leverage this for them. Blue tooth based proximity marketing is one such innovation which has never ever been done in India and we are very glad with results it has delivered for our client. We ensure and assure our clients that we will always try to be innovative and keep raising the bar in our digital offerings to all our clients.”
What is Bluetooth marketing (Blue Casting)?
– Bluetooth based marketing (popularly known as Blue casting) is a proximity marketing tool which enables brands to deliver content and applications to blue tooth enabled mobile phones. When a user is within the proximity of a BlueCast server and makes their handset discoverable the Blue Cast server identifies their device via its blue tooth ID and serves the content in accordance to the compatibility of the handset.
– User‘s phone locates blue tooth server. The server will identify the user‘s unique ID. It will then check if the user‘s phone is compatible to receive this data. Server asks permission to transfer data.
– User responds and starts receiving the content on its cell phone. It then rests with the user and he could view the content when ever he/she wants to do the same.
Can it track the users?
It can track the users, which would mean if a user has opted- in and received some content it can been determined that they have received it, therefore the next time they come into range they can be sent new content or can be ignored. It can be city wise so the brand can run different campaigns as per their market prioritization.
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.
