Brands
Sony unveils TVC with James Bond’s Moneypenny – Naomie Harris
MUMBAI: Ahead of the release of the motion picture Spectre, Sony has unveiled its ‘Made for Bond’ advertising campaign, which stars Naomie Harris as Moneypenny.
Spectre, from Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, will be released in the UK on 26 October and in the US on 6 November.
Packing a powerful punch, the short 60 second television commercial follows a tense chase across London’s South Bank as Moneypenny fights off mysterious villains to deliver Bond’s Xperia Z5 phone. Using state-of-the-art tools, including an advanced compact RX100 IV Cyber-shot camera, she captures surveillance in super-slow motion.
The ad has been produced by the legendary British director Danny Kleinman. Created by ad agency adam&eveDDB with production company Rattling Stick, the majority of the campaign film was shot on Sony’s F65 professional 4K cinema camera, interspersed with ‘slow motion’ surveillance that can be seen through the screen of the RX100 IV camera, and photography shown on the screen of the Xperia Z5.
Kleinman said, “The campaign film truly captures the excitement of the chase, being on a mission and taking the viewer on the journey, all set against an iconic London backdrop.”
Harris added, “London provides the perfect setting for the campaign film. Ultimately, at the centre of Bond is Britishness, so it was really important that the ad was shot here. It is not your traditional commercial; it’s an action-packed mini movie in itself.”
Sony Corporation president and CEO Kazuo Hirai said, “Sony has been a proud partner of the iconic Bond films since Casino Royale. While both the Xperia Z5 and RX100 IV are action-packed and full of features, they are also real, everyday-life gadgets. Whether being used by Moneypenny on undercover surveillance or a creative photographer who wants to take and share outstanding photography captured on social channels, they’re easy to use, pocketable and award-winning products for day-to-day and secret agent use alike.”
The campaign officially launches with the TV commercial, which will first air in the UK on 1 October, 2015 and will run until 8 November. The media campaign led by MediaCom also encompasses print, retail, digital and OOH.
With its compact size, the power of the premium RX100 IV camera – featuring the world’s first 1.0 type stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor, 40x super-slow-motion video capture at up to 960fps, and the ability to speedily read data 5x faster than previous models – makes it the perfect accessory for Moneypenny.
With the fastest autofocus in a leading smartphone delivering a ground-breaking speed of just 0.03 seconds, a fingerprint sensor integrated within the iconic power button, and beautifully sleek waterproof design, the Xperia Z5 is an advanced next-generation smartphone ideal for Bond. The Xperia Z5 was recently announced on 2 September, 2015 and will be available globally from October 2015.
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.
