MAM
Ad Asia overawes with cultural extravaganza
JAIPUR: “Shock and awe.”
To an ad man, that could well have represented the Ad Asia 2003 organising committee’s thematic motif on Monday night, at the gala dinner held at the stunningly grandiose City Palace, abode of the Maharaja of Jaipur.
And the underlying message to Singapore city, the hosts of AdAsia 2005 – “Try and beat this.”
It was a hark back to the bygone feudal era of the Maharajas that was recreated for the assembled guests last night at the City Palace, right from the red carpet welcome gate which had two liveried elephants on either side with rose petals being showered on the guests as they walked in. The ramparts of the palace were lit up not by your usual light bulbs but by the traditional wooden fires burning (or at least this writer thinks it was wood being burnt as these fires were burning all round the palace walls).
Crowned beauties at Tuesday’s do
An old British couple who had come for the ceremonies were simply awestruck by the opulence of the whole thing and the Japanese delegates (at least they looked Japanese) were true to type, clicking away and with camcorders in action.
As for the turnout, anyone who was anyone from the field of advertising and media was in attendance. And barring Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea, who was in Hong Kong at the briefing, announcing Michelle Guthrie as the new CEO of Star Asia (see Star appoints Michelle Guthrie as CEO), there was a good sprinkling of TV head honchos to be seen.
Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra, SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta and his whole A-list team, MTV India bossman Alex Kuruvilla and NDTV Media CEO Raj Nayak were among those that this writer chanced to meet.
As for the night’s entertainment at was jazz maestro Siva Mani and evergreen crooner Usha Uthup who were on stage. With the light moments provided by MTV VJs Cyrus Broacha and Sophia and Miss World 2000 Priyanka Chopra giving some spiel.
Talking of Chopra, she was taken around the inner palace courtyard in a liveried carriage decked in her Miss World regalia (crown and gown and what not).
That was a downside to the night’s proceedings. The upside was the chance this writer had to be driven in a 1944 Packard, which the chauffeur said was world’s first air conditioned automobile. Now that’s called regal carriage.
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.
