Last Tuesday evening, the Luxury Brand Management participants visited the Executive Education campus at La Défense for a presentation by Ms. Lana Glazman. Ms. Glazman currently serves as the Vice President of Corporate Marketing for the Estée Lauder Companies Europe. The presentation was titled, “The Bonfire of Certainties,” in reference to the death of the concepts that have been true for decades that are now rapidly changing - gender barriers, in-store experiences, technology, and so on.
During this discussion, Ms. Glazman focused on the trends that are affecting the Skincare, Makeup, and Fragrance industries.
Her equation for success is:
Winning = Attention • Emotion • Experience (W = AE²)
Within skincare, the main battle deals with associating oneself with adjacent categories, such as injections, laser, and plastic surgeries, as they are constantly at battle with the subdermal treatments given that skincare is a transdermal product. In order to address this challenge, Ms. Glazman suggests leveraging neuroscience, which aids in the self-conviction of clients as they tie themselves to the importance of their skincare products. Other topics skincare brands must acknowledge is the quality of mass-market pharmacy products (especially in France), the difficulties of urban living (pollution, sun damage), sustainability, and the taboo nature of the term “anti-aging.”
Moving on to the makeup sector, we discovered the power of “fast beauty” that is highlighted by the popularity of BB and CC creams as hybrids in skincare and makeup. Ms. Glazman highlighted the future importance of tribrids - fusions of makeup, skincare, and sun protection. Other trends of which to be mindful are the Korean Invasion fueled by government subsidies, gender fluidity, “Phygitalization,” in reference to the meld of experiences in-store and online, and the tastes and preferences of Generation Z, which no longer is a one-size-fits-all culture.
Fragrance is currently no longer a necessity though it continues to be a way to define one’s individuality, making it one of the most emotional of the beauty categories. The artisanal and niche segment is holding strong despite this reality. Ms. Glazman highlighted the importance of the launch of collections, which appease Millennials’ needs for plentiful options. Again, gender-bending was a highlight, in that scents, by nature, are not gendered and no longer have to be, as emphasized by the Middle East’s reversal of what they consider to be masculine and feminine. Otherwise, she noted that fragrance companies must be aware of the effect of product layering with body washes and lotions, multi-sensory products and the popularity of gourmand and oud, where gourmand is a very sweet scent reminiscent of vanilla, honey, or candy and oud is a scent well known in the Middle East for its warm and woody tones.
To close, Ms. Glazman presented a video that highlighted the future trends in the beauty industry. These include the need for hyper-bespoke products, incorporation of augmented reality (AR) technology such as ModiFace, acknowledgement of neuro- and bio-science, the fusion of local and global sensitivities, and rapidly growing markets such as Africa and ethnic-focused products. Other trends Ms. Glazman highlighted includes the immense popularity of subscription boxes such as Birchbox, a market growing at 300% per year, indie label guilds, and spa-quality home beauty devices.
Ms. Glazman left us with the following quote from Sarah Tulej, Senior Sustainability Advisor at Forum for the Future: “Today’s environment demands that we act in moments, but think in ages.” While we must react to the current state of the industry, we must always have the future in mind.
I would like to extend out deep gratitude to Ms. Lana Glazman for spending her Tuesday evening with us at La Défense and sharing with us her insights on the future of the beauty industry. It was an absolute pleasure!
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