MAM
Sony Music, Pepsi in global marketing campaign
NEW YORK: Sony Music and Pepsi Cola have unveiled plans for a multifaceted, global marketing campaign that will span the worlds of radio, television and retail.
Beginning next summer in the US, the unprecedented arrangement will include radio advertising for Pepsi brands featuring “sneak previews” of songs from key SME artists, as well as a series of Pepsi-sponsored TV specials showcasing select SME artists. What’s more, the campaign will include co-branded sales efforts at non-music retail outlets across the US providing a dramatically expanded distribution platform for SME releases and unique cross-merchandising programmes for Pepsi retail customers.
Internationally, while raising Pepsi’s longstanding relevance with music and the youth market, the relationship will feature a variety of innovative, co-branded marketing initiatives to maximise visibility for established SME artists and introduce new artists throughout the world.
Internationally, SME and Pepsi already have joined forces on Shakira’s worldwide concert tour.
While specific details are in development, preliminary elements of the Sony Music Entertainment and Pepsi campaign are as follows:
– Co-branded point-of-purchase displays offering Pepsi products and SME CDs will be installed in high-traffic areas of non-music retail outlets in the United States, effectively positioning music product as a high-value impulse buy.
– As with Pepsi’s sponsorship of Shakira’s worldwide tour, SME and Pepsi will collaborate on a variety of innovative campaigns designed to maximise exposure for both Pepsi brands and SME artists in markets around the world.
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.
