Marketing expert Hugh Pile takes up the CMO post, which will focus on plugging the brand across the UK and Ireland by generating consumer insight and developing digital presence.
On his appointment, Pile confirmed that digital would be a central focus for the brand’s future UK marketing moves.
“The realms of digital and marketing have become inseparable where the beauty industry is concerned,” he asserted. “I am delighted to be working with a variety of teams within the business to ensure this remains a priority for L’Oreal.”
The company’s consumer and market insight, consumer affairs, media management and social listening teams will from now on report to Pile in the UK, the company has said.
Global vision
L’Oreal’s commitment to pushing its digital agenda globally participates in the company’s aggressive expansion plan, which looks to reach an extra billion consumers by 2020, doubling its current consumer-base.
This was recently confirmed by the brand’s head of digital marketing in Australia, Christophe Eymery.
“We are focused on key growing markets to get the volume but the fourth pillar of our strategy is to leverage digital and to increase and deliver better beauty education to customers,” he stated.
L’Oreal already dominates across digital within the beauty sector and is consistently picked out by L2 ThinkTank as beauty’s top ‘genius’ brand; the appointment of a new UK CMO forms part of its push to maintain and strengthen that position.
Video in focus
In another move set to further this vision, L’Oreal recently acquired NYX (pronounced ‘nix’) Cosmetics, a brand which has cornered the market in video marketing.
NXY’s sales hit $72 million in 2013, up 46% on the year before, and, according to L'Oreal, rose an even speedier 56% up to May this year: this huge growth is attributed to its strong presence and following among beauty bloggers on YouTube.
The acquisition plugs the gap of video marketing in L’Oreal’s digital portfolio, with NYX having been recently described as the “fan-favorite on YouTube” by online video marking guide, ReelSEO.