MAM
Star TV labeled as a ‘Superbrand’
NEW DELHI: Superbrands India bestowed The Superbrand award to Star TV for being the strongest brand in the media category.
The much anticipated first list of the winners of India’s very first “Oscars in Branding” – The Superbrands, were announced today and were chosen from over 700 short-listed consumer brands. The Superbrands India 2003 list includes ACC, Airtel, Allen Solly, Amex, Apollo, Aqua Guard, Archies, Ashok Leyland, Band Aid, Bata, Blue Dart, Boost, Boroline, Cinthol, ColorPlus, Dhara, DHL, ESPN, Femina, Fuji Films, Gili, Godrej Refrigerators, Goodknight, Hero Honda, Horlicks, Hutch, ICI Dulux, ICICI Prudential, ITC Welcomgroup, Jaquar, Jet Airways, Johnson’s Babycare Range, Kerala Tourism, Kitply, Levis, Louis Phillippe, Moov, NIIT, Parryware, Phillips, Pizza Hut, Raymond, Reid & Taylor, Revlon, Sahara, Saridon, SIFY (Satyam), Star TV, State Bank of India, Strepsils, Tanishq, Tata Cars, Tata Salt, Tata Tea, Tata Trucks, The Economic Times, The Times of India, Thomas Cook, Timex, Titan and VLCC.
Superbrands is an independent body composed of legendary advertising, marketing, research and media professionals mandated to recognise excellence in branding and promote the discipline of branding itself. The winners have been identified to be the strongest brands in their respective categories.
The Superbrands Organisation has been tracking the branding phenomenon for the past 10 years. The criteria for selection of the winning consumer brands include perceived brand image plus the brands’ mind share, goodwill, consumer loyalty, trust and emotional bonding.
Superbrands India MD and Chairperson Superbrands India Council Anmol Dar said, “Being the competitive market that India is, there is a lot for business and industry to learn from the success of these brands. The Indian Superbrands are the best of the breed and consumers are instinctively aware of their distinction.”
The winners will be felicitated in a gala event later this year, which will also feature the release of the first edition of the book Superbrands, which will be a chronicle of India’s Strongest Brands for the year 2003.
“I’m certain that this inaugural edition and the subsequent books will become collector’s item – a historical perspective of brand development in India and the brand themselves who make the grade to this exclusive hall of fame,” added Dar.
The Brand Council evaluated over 700 consumer brands in the country under 98 different categories to identify the Indian Superbrands for the year. The Brand Council has doyens from the world of commerce and industry including Hindustan Levers Limited Executive Director Dalip Sehgal, AC Neilsen ORG-MARG Chairman KMS Ahluwalia, J Walter Thompson CEO Mike Khanna, Raymond Limited Group President & Full-time Director Nabankur Gupta, O&M Group President & National Creative Director Piyush Pandey, Bennett Coleman & Company President Pradeep Guha, Britannia Industries Limited former MD & CEO Sunil Alagh, Indian Institute of Mass Communications Chairperson Tara Sinha and ITC Chairman Yogi Dewashwar.
The Superbrand juggernaut has now rolled out to 26 countries around the world including the UK, the US, France, Australia, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Holland, Hong Kong, Malaysia and of course India..
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.
