MAM
Enough potential in urban India before going rural: L’Oréal Paris
MUMBAI: It was 1993 when French beauty brand L’Oréal Paris made its way to India. An instant hit with the newly privatised economy, the brand has been a favourite of Indian women in the ensuing two decades.
Considered as a young player in India’s cosmetics market, L’Oréal is the fastest-growing beauty company in the company with an annual average of 30.2 per cent and has representation in over 800,000 points of sale. It is the third leading operator in the Indian cosmetics market with a 10 per cent market share in the urban areas, claims the company.
The beauty and personal care market in India is valued at Rs 81,000 core. The India revenue of L’Oreal, according to industry estimates, is currently Rs 3,000-3,500 crore a year. In order to cater to the Indian market optimally, the cosmetics group has, over the years, launched several brands across various product categories.
In order to be up-to-date, L’Oréal follows a combination of traditional and new-age media for marketing and advertising. L’Oréal Paris general manager Raagjeet Garg says that the company looks at television, digital, social media platforms, digital videos, outdoor and other BTL media to connect with consumers.
The brand invests heavily on marketing every year and the number is only increasing yoy to ensure it reaches a wider number of consumers and with a differentiated campaign. Going forward, the company will look at creating more India-specific products.
L’Oréal is trying to shake off the luxury brand image. As a matter of fact, its products start at Rs 3 (for a sachet of shampoo).
In interior India, the brand faces stiff competition from local products but the brand is still pursuing urban consumers since the saturation point hasn’t yet been hit. Garg says, “There is enough potential to get enough consumers in the urban population before we start targeting the rural areas. The objective eventually will be to speak to as many consumers as possible but that will happen in a phased manner and we want to get the urban and tier 1, tier 2 markets first and then talk about the rest of the consumers around the country.”
The L’Oréal Paris brand encompasses the four major beauty categories — hair colour, cosmetics, hair care, and skin care — and includes brands as Excellence Crème, Total Repair 5 hair care, Pure Clay masks, White Perfect, Fall Repair, Revitalift, Volume Million Lashes mascara, Color Riche lipsticks, Superliners and True Match foundations among many others.
With its signature phrase, “Because We’re Worth It”, the brand wants to inspire women to embrace their own unique beauty and reinforce their sense of self-worth.
India being a strategic country for L’Oréal international, it picked the right A-list Bollywood actresses as brand ambassadors – Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. These women encompass a wide range of target audiences in terms of age group and lifestyle.
The brand also recently celebrated 21 glorious years as the official make-up partner for the Festival de Cannes. Garg says, “I think if the relationship is beautiful, you just want to nurture the relationship and that’s exactly what we do with Cannes. Each year we realise it is only getting better and better.”
The Cannes Film Festival will take place from the 8 to 18 May where Padukone will be walking the red carpet for the second time along with Rai-Bachchan, who will be completing 17 years at the festival. Kapoor will be seen for the eighth time at Cannes along with other spokespersons including Julianne Moore, Helen Mirren and Doutzen Kroes.
Garg pointed out that Cannes association is not ROI driven or to create brand visibility but rather to democratise that beauty is for everyone. The company will soon be making its Cannes collection available at its L’Oréal Paris counters and some e-commerce sites in India.
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MAM
Microdrama Specialist COL Group International Builds Out With Narativ, Rock Networks & BlingWood Deals
MUMBAI: Microdrama powerhouse COL Group International is building out its distribution network, with its CEO saying vertical video is about to enter its “next competitive chapter.”
The microdrama arm of publicly-listed Chinese company COL Group appointed Narativ Media as its official distributor in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and CIS regions and Africa, and a struck new content deal with a new Dubai-based microdrama platform.
The deals were unveiled this morning at MIP London, and also included Rock Networks as its exclusive Southeast Asia telco distribution partner for its app, FlareFlow. MIP London is now into its second day at the Savoy Hotel and adjoining IET London complex.
The deals come soon after COL appointed Harbour Rights to represent its titles in Europe and Latin America, as we reported yesterday in our extended feature on microdrama distribution.
COL’s Singapore-based microdrama unit says its “coordinated global distribution architecture and significantly expanded international content slate” would help to scale its catalogue to more than 1,700 microdrama titles worldwide. These hail from South Korea, Japan, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the UK and roll out across Sereal+, FlareFlow and 17K.
A deal with Dubai-based BlingWood, which recently launched as an OTT platform, will expand COL’s access to Middle Eastern and Indian microdramas, and includes a broader pipeline of Indian series from storytelling platform Pratilipi, Korean titles from BeLive Studios and British reality-led formats from Tattle TV — the UK’s first dedicated microdrama app, including titles such as Dog Dates.
“Microdrama is entering its next competitive chapter, where quality, retention and monetization standards are increasingly shaped by data and operational discipline,” said Timothy Oh, General Manager of COL Group International.
“As pioneers in both China and the U.S., scaling some of the world’s leading platforms in this space, we understand what it truly takes to win sustainably. Our role is not simply to offer catalogue volume, but to help partners select, position and scale the right content for their platform and audience. By bringing together a broad, constantly refreshed slate from across regions, we enable smarter curation, clearer differentiation and long-term growth for serious industry players.”
Narativ deal
COL and UAE-based Narativ described their deal as a “strategic expansion of premium vertical content distribution across high-growth emerging markets,” and comes as the microdrama continues to boom financially. The growth of the medium will be among the key topics of conversation today at MIP London, where COL chief Oh will be speaking.
The pact extends beyond content representation and is being billed as part of a more “structured micro-drama distribution infrastructure.”
Narativ will spearhead market development, platform alliances, broadcaster relationships and digital monetization frameworks across the MENA and CIS regions and Africa, where they have identified “rapid mobile-first consumption growth and strong demand for short-form, high-engagement storytelling formats.”
“Micro-dramas are reshaping global viewing habits, particularly across mobile-first markets like MENA, Africa and CIS,” said Manjyot Sandhu, CEO and co-founder of Narativ. “Our appointment as official distributor for COL Group in these territories reflects Narativ’s strategy to build sustainable distribution architecture.
“A key pillar of the collaboration includes integration with FlareFlow, enabling strategic telco partnerships, bundled carrier offerings, and alternative monetization pathways designed to accelerate scale across mobile ecosystems and OTT platforms.”
Oh added: “We are building more than a content slate – we are building the global infrastructure for microdrama. With hundreds of new titles launching every quarter, scale and regional strength are critical. Narativ with its deep foothold in MENA, Africa CIS and other key markets makes them a natural strategic partner as we expand FlareFlow and bring microdrama to new platforms, telcos and audiences.
Narativ, which is joint venture Sandhu operates with Copyright Capital, manages around 7,000 hours of content and has a digital network spanning 150 million subscribers across 21 language.
COL Group has emerged as one of the biggest microdrama platforms, running platforms such as FlareFow. It is also a part-owner of ReelShort.
