MAM
Advertising legend Mani S Ayer passes away
MUMBAI: Ogilvy India’s former top boss and advertising legend SR Mani Ayer died today morning at the age of 74, after a brief illness.
Popularly known as Mani, Ayer was born on 5 September 1935. He joined Ogilvy in 1958, then SH Benson, as a copywriter and was with the company for 36 years before he hung his boots in 1994.
During his tenure at Ogilvy, he spent two years in Ogilvy Australia, prior to taking over the reins as MD in 1973. He was only 38 years old when he took on the role of Ogilvy India MD from Padubidri Sarma.
Ogilvy South Asia executive chairman and creative director Piyush Pandey said, “This is the end of an era, as one of the leading lights of Ogilvy India is no more with us. He was the one who laid the foundation of the Ogilvy of the 70s and beyond. His presence will be missed by the industry of which he was one of the architects. At a personal level, his teachings will continue to inspire me and a lot of people who have worked with him, for him or heard of him. Salaam Mr Ayer!”
Ayer is credited with laying the foundations of modern Ogilvy in India. He brought a high level of strategic thinking and business orientation into the advertising thinking process. He created a new wave that has today become the mantra of account handling/client servicing professionals in Ogilvy and ex Ogilvyites – always put the client first.
David Ogilvy described Ayer as, “The most outstanding individual in the Ogilvy Network.”
Ogilvy issued a statement today, praising Ayer for all his dedication for the company. As per Ogilvy, he (Ayer) invested hugely in training – time and money. He would actually take time out to sit and observe a session being conducted by a new trainer to ensure they got it right.
He took enormous pride in the successes of his people and applauded as much as he provided constructive criticism on performances, reaching out to his people when they faltered. He was very particular about celebrating successes. He had an amazing capacity to learn constantly from varied sources and get to the heart of any issue, responding instantly and in a very systematic manner and form. Behind his tough, disciplinarian manner, Ayer was a man with a heart of gold.
Late Suresh Mullick had described Ayer: “Mani was, and always will be, a gifted all rounder. As well as being MD India, of a very fine agency, is a philosopher, raconteur, political analyst, economist, a film and music buff. A Gary Sobers, if you know what I mean.”
After retirement, he moved to his hometown Chennai. Among other accolades that Ayer won, the most recent was the Hall of Fame by AAAI.
Ogilvy India and South Asia co-executive chairman and COO SN Rane said, “I will remember Ayer who started in Ogilvy as a copy person and reached a commanding height through his thorough professionalism, burning passion and doubtless dedication for the advertising profession and for Ogilvy India. He dominated the Indian advertising scene for over three decades and went on to become a legend in his lifetime. I had the privilege of working with him closely and the learning from him is an invaluable treasure.”
Saddened by the news, WPP country head Ranjan Kapur comments, “Ayer‘s biggest strength was the ability to make every piece of work ‘word perfect‘. Despite not being a banker, he owned one of the sharpest financial minds that I have had the opportunity to work with. When he retired from Ogilvy, he left me an agency with an extremely healthy balance sheet which enabled me as his successor, to do many things that I was able to do. He was meticulous and tidy at work, a superb client servicing man and people within Ogilvy as well as outside were in awe of him. I was associated with him from 1996 until the day I retired. I gained a very healthy respect for him.”
Ayer is survived by his wife, daughter and son. The funeral will be held tomorrow.
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.
