MAM
Sayani & Dabolkar on ‘creativity’ at RAPA’s tea meet
MUMBAI: It was a trip down the memory lane that brought in nostalgia as two industry stalwarts presented their career journeys. RAPA’s tea meeting, held today at the Nehru Centre, celebrated legendary commercial broadcaster Ameen Sayani and ad man and theatre wizard Bharat Dabholkar.
Sayani jumpstarted the session stating, “Creativity is the sum total of your personality. The basis for good creativity will always be individualism.”
Sayani began training as a radio broadcaster at the tender age of seven, under the guidance of his elder brother who was with All India Radio (AIR). He joined AIR as an English broadcaster for a number of years. Aspiring to spill into Hindi broadcasting as well, Sayani strived hard to better his language skills but AIR gave him no break.
He went on to join Radio Ceylon , a Sri Lankan based radio station that made an entry into India through an agency. Sayani chanced upon his first break into Hindi broadcasting at this radio station, his first assignment being reading out the Ovaltine spot. Post work on a number of little ads and announcements, Sayani stressed that he developed a unique sense of creativity in which everything he said reelected India and the growth of Indian ethos.
Soon, he was bestowed the responsibility of programming and anchoring a show called Geet Mala. With Rs 25 allocated to him to produce, script, and administrate the show, Sayani took his first step to becoming a seasoned broadcaster. The show was a competition of rearranging songs, which caught on in the ’60s like a house on fire with letters galore.
Geet Mala was then modified to become the first ever countdown show India had ever witnessed, and luckily for Radio Ceylon and Sayani, the then I&B minister banned all film songs on AIR. The show became a rage and this is when Sayani started integrating the commercials into his script for better brand recall. The show was initially called Binaka Geet Mala, then went on to be known as Cibaca Geet Mala and finally Colgate Geet Mala.
Sayani emphasized on the need for clear communication as a recipe for success. While he said radio in India had come a long way, he also stated that a lot of commercials today failed to communicate the message, leaving the listener wondering.
Next to speak was the man who created the evergreen, smart and sassy Amul ads. Being the actor he is, Dabholkar kicked off his session feigning nervousness on being asked to speak and also managed to take a few digs at himself. He drove home the point that while making an ad one shouldn’t keep in mind what is being said, but whom they are saying it to.
Dabholkar said that there are three ways that a product can be advertised. Either it should have a product, a marketing or an advertising advantage.
He referred to celebrity and brand ambassador advertising as lacking credibility and an over kill which does not really enhance the product properties. Attention, instead, is diverted to the celebrity.
Dabholkar referred to humour as an effective way of communicating a message. But he stressed that the humour had to emerge from the product itself. O&M’s Feviquik (Fisherman) ad, he said, was one of the finest examples of product related humour.
“Creativity works in advertising and great ideas don’t require too much money to be pumped in,” were the man’s parting words.
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.
