Interview With LOreal President

So this is not really about beauty products. But I just got the email and I found it semi-interesting. Wanted to put it out there in case someone else was into business and felt like reading an interview from Carol.

Carol Hamilton	With Jenny B. Fine

Carol Hamilton, the president of L’Oréal Paris, has a reputation for changing her hair color frequently. The ongoing shade experiments are testament to Hamilton’s long fascination with and passion for color and beauty. She does this to experience what the consumer does. “It helps me find out firsthand what it’s like to be a brunette, blonde or redhead,” explains Hamilton, the guest speaker at the CEW Women in Beauty Series on May 8. “I think it’s the best way to learn about the power of hair color.” L’Oréal Paris develops products across several beauty categories, including cosmetics, skin care, and hair care and color.

How did you get started?
I put myself through (Vassar) college, so I had years of loans to pay off. My first job was as a secretary for Grey Advertising, working on the Revlon brand. I had no experience whatsoever. I was terrified. 

I was in the creative department – that’s where I discovered my passion for advertising. I was working for 12 people including directors, writers, casting directors and a producer. It took two years before I was invited to a meeting, which shows how much patience you had to have at that time versus today.

You’ve been at L’Oréal for 24 years. How did you get there?
I needed to expand my professional experience beyond advertising. And the best place to do that was at a package goods company where I spent six-years. One day I got a call from L’Oréal. I absolutely loved their DNA and values. I remember watching the Preference commercial, “Because I’m Worth It.” I wanted to be at a company that  encouraged women to believe in themselves.
 
What excites you about your job?
I don’t think of beauty as a product. I think of it in a much larger context. I think beauty is about how people see themselves. Beauty is in culture, in the arts, in the landscape. When you start to connect all the dots, you understand that beauty has a very, very broad social context.

Where do your product and marketing ideas come from?
Our ideas come from just going out on the street and looking at what’s going on around us. We get a lot of our ideas from traveling and seeing different cultures – or even going to the gym. One of my favorite examples came when I was at a step class. I saw this beautiful African-American woman who had a very golden skin tone, blonde hair and topaz eyes. She was wearing a long, beautiful, mustard-colored leotard. I was amazed at how beautiful those combinations of colors were. I carried that back to our creative director.

What is the retail landscape at mass like today?
Obviously, with the stress on the economy, consumers are coming back to mass. Wal-Mart’s foot traffic is up. We look at it as a global moment to gain market share and to really train the beauty customer that there are a lot of good products at mass. But retailers are more demanding about seeing immediate results. We used to have a six-month window (to see results), and then usually a year to grow our business. Today, you have to get it right out of the gate.

How are you meeting that challenge?
We have an ambitious mission and the determination to make it right. If it’s not right, you have to pull the plug on the launch. As hard as that is for the retailer to accept, it is so much better to pull back and not launch something that’s not going to be an immediate success.

Any comments on merchandising?
There is a huge opportunity for skin care merchandising. The way mass cosmetics are merchandised allows the consumer to shop in a self-service environment, but skin care is a big challenge and that’s where the growth is.

L’Oréal has a mix of prestige, mass and professional businesses. Do you share ideas?
Yes, we do. We have a strategic committee meeting every other week. There are representatives from various divisions. We all report on what’s working and what’s not, what’s happening competitively and what’s happening with our retailers. Then I share that information with my team as well.

Are celebrity spokespeople still important?
Absolutely. America has an incredible thirst for celebrities. L’Oréal celebrities are part of our family and we pick them very carefully. We want it to be a long-term relationship. We want to have women and men who are not only beautiful and appealing, but who also have intelligence and are role models. We also like to work with people who support our causes, such as The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

What types of advertising/marketing vehicles do you use today?
We’re constantly experimenting. In September we launched a special feature on our web site called, “Can I Help You?” We’re dabbling in virtually everything, and like everyone, we’re trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

How do you keep your personal life and career balanced?
When I’m in New York and I don’t have an event, I make sure to leave the office by 7 p.m. and have dinner with my husband. I focus on one week at a time. When I look out at the horizon of my calendar of what’s scheduled in the next month, I become totally overwhelmed and lose my sense of balance and composure. Personally, I have never felt that I’ve made sacrifices in the work-life balance. In fact, they’re deliberate choices I’ve made along the way.

Advice for someone just starting out?
Master the business. I mean really master it from every single facet – the sales side, and especially, the financial side. It is important not to be typecast in one area of expertise.