That’s what John Demsey hopes,mac brushes according to a recent Independent interview.
With aging customers and the slow death of the department store – where Estee Lauder products have traditionally been sold – Estee bigwigs are looking for new ways to keep their products relevant.
Solution: celebrity endorsements!
With their massive wealth, Estee Lauder (who own Aveda, MAC, Origins, Tom Ford Beauty, Sean Combs cologne,mac makeup etc.) can afford to maintain a respectable stable of celebrities: P. Diddy, Pamela Anderson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Elizabeth Hurley, Dita von Teese,north face denali and many, many more…
Estee Lauder’s group President John Demsey says that celebrity association create ‘aspirational’ associations that he hopes will make a new generation want to buy Estee products.
Says Demsey of P. Diddy, “He’s a cultural movement… Young people view him as a lifestyle…. He’s the hip-hop Ralph Lauren. Because many, many years ago, Ralph Lauren created a brand and a lifestyle that people sort of aspired to be part of. [P Diddy] blackhawks jerseys is modern-day aspiration”
Those Gwyneth Paltrow ads for Estee Lauder definitely raised Estee Lauder’s profile (2-page spreads with an A-List star in Vogue tend to do that) but I certainly wasn’t rushing to my local Macy’s to pick up some perfume.
On the other hand, I definitely bought more Rimmell (not an Estee brand) products because of their Kate Moss ads.
But the question remains: will our generation fall for aspirational beauty products? Or hip ones?
