Brands
Air Asia touches 2.5 million guests
MUMBAI: With the sudden rise of various industries over the years, the priorities and sentiments of service centric companies have evolved. Keeping the customers as the cornerstone of the business, companies are out on a spree to attribute all their milestones to the customers by celebrating with them. As a part of the celebration, companies indulge in giving out discounts and exclusive offers encouraging the customers to support the brand.
Low-cost carrier, AirAsia India had recently reached the milestone of flying 2.5 million guests on board. To celebrate this benchmark, AirAsia left no stone unturned by creating a buzz through every form of media which included teaser campaigns that rolled out 4 days before the D-Day and hashtag campaigns (#AirAsiaAviator, #AirAsia2point5million) that had that secured its spot in the trending topics on Twitter. To keep the ball rolling, AirAsia also offered exclusive offers like discounts of upto 50% on return flights for a time slot of 50 hours. AirAsia had also planned a lot for its special activities for its2.5 millionth guest. The flight scheduled on 16th May, 2016 had welcomed its 2.5 millionth guest from Bengaluru to Delhi. The airline had well planned the guest’s journey from the ground to the skies. The other guests who boarded the flight were also showered with surprise gifts as a part of the celebration.
Kindly let us know if you would be interested to know more insights about the campaign on flying 2.5 million passengers.
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.
