Estee Lauder is a global brand, which is using more and more of grassroots, word-of-mouth marketing and less and less of traditional marketing. It has brands like Bobbi Brown, Mac, Tom Ford, Rodin Olio Lusso, Le Labo, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle and Glamglow under its umbrella, which are all relying heavily on nontraditional forms of media and reaping huge benefits from it. Relying heavily on “The social advocacy model” and “User-generated content” is becoming a new trend not just with Estee Lauder but many other brands.
Print and TV advertising has been replaced by social media marketing, sponsored content and influencer marketing. The interesting aspect is that not only are brands shifting advertising dollars to social media and influencer marketing but also cutting down their advertising budgets considerably. Estée Lauder’s spent $2.84 billion for advertising, merchandising, sampling, promotion and production development in 2014 which was down to 2.77 billions in 2015. Customers especially the beauty industry ones are first finding products on platforms like Instagram instead of magazines. Digital campaigns are giving a more impact full presence to brands for a lesser amount in advertising dollars. Brands are hiring e-commerce/digital agencies like Fluid, Pulp and Kettle to handle all their marketing operations as its giving them more value for money than traditional advertising.
