Throughout a long career at Colgate-Palmolive, Marc Speichert was an innovator. In 2010, he quickly incorporated this spirit into his new role as Chief Marketing Officer of L’Oreal USA, a position which had not previously existed within one of the world’s largest producers of beauty products.
“I’ve been spending quite a bit of time on preparing for the future and trying to align innovation to where the big growth bets will be.” Explains Speichert in an interview with AdAge. “There’s also the opportunity… [to create a] view of consumers and our shoppers in how they move from one department or one channel to the other.”
Speichert has helped L’Oreal USA tap into the consumer’s path to purchase by recognizing the growing importance of “evaluate” and “advocate” stages that are driven by new media. Speichert cites the use of interactive digital display banners through L’Oreal’s partnership with the cloud-based advertising platform Flite as an example. “This allows us to enter the customers’ path to purchase during the ‘consider’ stage by allowing them to actually interact with the ad in real time thus engaging them in a unique way,” he explains in an interview with Forbes.
And in August 2010, L’Oreal launched a Destination Beauty Channel on YouTube, which features video of popular “beauty gurus” who discuss the latest hair and make-up trends. The result is an engaged community of brand advocates who can also share these videos through the various social media platforms. “Destination Beauty” quickly became the most viewed channel in YouTube’s history—22M partner videos viewed, earning 287MM impressions.
Marc Speichert spoke about this new path to purchase in the digital marketplace at our BRITE ’12 Conference (March 5-6, NYC).