MAM
Lowe Lintas + Partners named Ad Age’s 2015 International Agency of the Year
MUMBAI: The year 2015 started off with a bang for Lowe Lintas + Partners as it has been declared by Ad Age as Runner Up “2015 International agency of the Year.”
On a roll since January 2014, when it was declared the ‘Effie Agency of the Year,’ the agency followed it up right through the entire year with impressive performances at APAC Effies, Tambuli Awards, Cannes Lions, AME, Jay Chiat, WARC, Campaign APAC and many more.
The Ad Age International Agency of the Year award is one-of-a-kind that honours the best agencies of the year across the world, regardless of discipline or specialty. With a host of achievements that need to be factored in including business, creative product, in market performance, industry recognition, talent management, culture etc, it’s one of the toughest juries to please.
Lowe and Partners Worldwide global CEO Michael Wall said, “Our Indian agency certainly merits this recognition. Their work is brilliant. They are one of the most effective agencies for their clients on a global scale. They are a really high caliber team. And they deliver in one of the most complex and competitive markets in the world. It is a special group and it is always a pleasure to spend time working with them.”
Lowe Lintas + Partners CEO Joseph George added, “Very rarely does it happen in the life of an agency when so much of its work gets noticed and talked about across the globe in the same year. And add to that, the number of effectiveness awards it won across the world. Considering that we were tested on a spectrum of barometers from product to business to talent to culture, this recognition by Ad Age is truly special and spurring at once.”
After a superlative performance at the just concluded India Effies, wherein Lowe Lintas + Partners won more Golds than all the other agencies put together, the agency’s good streak seems to continue.
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.
