MAM
Zee kicks off 3rd phase of ‘Sinndoor’ campaign
MUMBAI: Zee TV is putting in more efforts to promote its 7:30 pm daily soap Sinndoor Tere Naam Ka. The channel has kicked off a new outdoor campaign to promote the show, which is presently the number one show in its primetime line up.
“Sinndoor ko lagi ye kiski nazar?” asks hoardings deployed in various strategic locations across the city. Through the campaign, is the channel taking potshots at its competitors? Is the campaign also meant to project Zee’s new found glory in the 7:30 pm slot?
A Sinndoor hoarding positioned near Andheri station
Speaking on the sidelines of the Time Bomb press conference, Zee TV marketing head Tarun Mehra shrugged off any such intentions.
“As per our plans, this is the third phase of the Sinndoor campaign. We have attempted certain innovations in the storyline. There is a new character introduced. The campaign is basically to create curiosity,” he says.
Sinndoor has been the find of Zee TV in the recent times. Launched in March, the show went on to topple another Zee TV soap Kareena Kareena from the top slot in Zee’s line up. Though yet to break into the TAM top 100, Sinndoor has helped the channel to forge a strong early primetime band.
“Sinndoor had crossed the 2 TRP mark. Though now it is running below that mark, still it is delivering for us. We want the campaign to boost its position,” says Mehra.
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.
