MAM
After Lux Emami’s new ad to feature Shah Rukh Khan
| MUMBAI: Emami, the personal and healthcare major, has roped in youth icon Shah Rukh Khan in its club of brand ambassadors. Emami seems to be gearing up on targeting the youth via ‘Youth Icon‘. |
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Shah Rukh Khan says, “I have found a lot of similarity between Emami and me. At 30, Emami represents the aggressiveness of youth complemented with the maturity of an adult. Emami respects their young consumers and plans to build young brand advocates. I have a lot of young fans and I love them. I feel there will be great synergy to this association between Emami and myself.” The release adds that roping Shah Rukh Khan for Emami hopes to promote brand advocacy among its young consumers. The accepted wisdom is that the best form of advertising for a brand is a positive word of mouth from consumers. |
In a market cluttered with brands, offers on brands and sponsored communication about brands, it is difficult for a brand to stand out distinctly. Therefore the push that a positive word of mouth or advocacy provides is invaluable. This is the underlying thought behind Emami’s association with Shah Rukh Khan, informs the release. Emami director Aditya V. Agarwal says, “Brand advocacy in simple words means ‘word of mouth recommendation’. We feel that a customer’s social network typically consists of people like himself. His friends represent the perfect target market for the brand. Adds Shah Rukh Khan, “I feel proud to be part of Team Emami.” |
As part of the deal Shah Rukh Khan will feature in Emami commercials, which will hit the media within a month’s time. Shah Rukh Khan has been endorsing Lux, a new ad was choreographed for its 75 anniversary.
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.
