|
|
|
International Marketing Study Program 2007
L'Oreal
22nd January 2007
Our experience with L’Oreal started by visiting the modern facilities of their production plant at Aulnay, situated one hour from central Paris. The PR manager of L’Oreal, Marie Line-Paris, greeted us warmly before guiding us into an auditorium where her presentation began. Marie provided a comprehensive introduction into L’Oreal’s global operations, manufacturing facilities, distribution strategies and brand positioning, with particular reference to the Garnier brand.
Marie then lead us through a tour of L’Oreal’s 3 production plants in Aulnay, where L’Oreal manufacturers many of its Garnier products. Interesting things to note were that majority of L’Oreal’s production processes are automated and supervised by only a few specialists. However, new products still to prove themselves in the market are produced with manual input due to the large amount of monetary investment required for the necessary machinery. From the presentation and tour, the enormity of the value placed on staff at L’Oreal was made very clear.
After touring L’Oreal’s product manufacturing facilities in Aulnay, the group travelled to the L’Oreal headquarters in central Paris. Here, we were met by HR manager, Olivere Lacaqu, who briefed us on L’Oreal’s past and present marketing and HR strategies. In terms of their ongoing global expansion, L’Oreal’s greatest success lies in their ongoing investment into research and development. Coupled with continuity in management, L’Oreal has been able to maintain and secure their brand position as one of the world’s most innovative and well known brands.
As detailed by L’Oreal Marketing Manager, Simore Chafale, 1994 saw the launch of L’Oreal into the Indian market via the their premium brand, Excellence, which was targeted towards top-end Indian consumers. With key focus on hair care products (68%) and skin care (22%), L’Oreal successfully secured a large trial and purchase rate through standardizing their corporate brand values and localizing communications strategies through local brand ambassadors. Through such bold marketing strategies, L’Oreal was further able to successfully increase their market share and challenge traditional behaviors and cultural perceptions of hair care practices in India. Off the back of their initial launch into the premium hair-care market, L’Oreal was able to expand their presence into other consumer segments in a top down fashion – e.g. Nutrisse brand marketed towards the lower end of the market.
After such informative and insightful presentations, L’Oreal provided us with a lunch consisting of fine finger foods and champagne, where we were also given the opportunity to meet and converse with L’Oreal personnel one-on-one about their experiences with the company- the perfect way to end our visit to L’Oreal!
|
