At our annual NYC conference, top retail marketers reveal how they stay ahead. Estée Lauder, a consistent presence, proves legacy doesn’t mean stagnation. They blend core brand identity, modern storytelling and cutting-edge tech to create emotional, effective marketing that moves at culture’s speed. Here’s how Estée Lauder remains iconic and relevant despite being an 80 year old brand.
Micro-Storytelling: Maintaining Brand Identity with Every Decision
Micro-storytelling distills a company’s narrative to its core, conveying a brand’s essence in a single image, sentence or video clip. It grabs attention and leaves a lasting impression.
Estée Lauder’s micro-stories stem from its founder’s legacy: the “Rule-breaker” and “High-touch” ethos.
The “Rule-breaker” embodies bold, unconventional marketing, inspired by Estée’s disruptive tactics like shattering perfume bottles in department stores to create demand. This defines the brand’s innate daring nature. Modern product launches and innovations often lean into this mantra.
Second, the “high-touch” approach, rooted in Estée’s belief in personal connection, taps into the customer’s desire for intimacy. She often applied products on customers herself, believing that personal touch builds trust and repeat business. “High-touch” is now emphasized within cultural-relevancy campaigns and their social media content.
These two tenets resonate with different audiences: innovation-seekers and those yearning for emotional connection. Both will foster loyalty. Estée Lauder proves that effective micro-storytelling isn’t just marketing; it embeds brand values into every customer interaction, fortifying deep emotional bonds.
Technology Amplifies Storytelling with Precision
Storytelling gains power when amplified by technology. Estée Lauder invests in new retail technology to extend its reach and sharpen its focus.
(Estée Lauder)
Liv, the AI Voice App: Liv blends tech with empathy, turning everyday beauty dilemmas into moments of connection. A simple voice command via mobile or Google Home delivers instant advice. Campaigns featuring relatable missteps (like DIY skincare fails) build trust and highlight innovation. Liv modernizes the age-old habit of sharing beauty tips with a friend.
CustomerIQ (with Microsoft 365 Copilot): With 80 years of history and 25 brands in 150 countries, Estée Lauder holds a vast trove of customer and product data. Though, the challenge is accessing it fast. Through its Microsoft 365 Copilot partnership, the company is building CustomerIQ: a Gen-AI tool that lets marketers instantly search past company reports, product histories and market research. The payoff? Reduced research time enables faster campaign rollouts with highly targeted, personalized content.
Trend Studio: Estée Lauder’s content AI tool that tracks viral trends in real time. It detects market shifts, aligns inventory and auto-generates campaign copy to enable rapid, culturally relevant marketing. Product launches are now accelerated and get to customers’ TikTok FYPs and Instagram reels faster.
How Estée Lauder’s Projects Luxury in Every Customer Touchpoint
Estée Lauder’s digital marketing targets affluent professionals, emphasizing science-driven, high-performance products.
(Estée Lauder)
Best-selling, Advanced Night Repair Serum, features Chronolux Power Signal Technology, rooted in biotech and circadian science. Assertive language like “new,” “advanced” and “No. 1” signals next-gen luxury to customers seeking the best in skincare.
(Estée Lauder)
Estée Lauder’s packaging is bold, distinctive and gift-worthy. Skincare products are turned into status symbols on shelves and vanities.
(Cosmopolitan Magazine)
Partnerships with trending celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Anya Taylor-Joy drive reach and aspirational identity for younger consumers. Such ambassador campaigns drove millions in incremental sales and lifted social engagement, increasing traffic and conversions by 20-35% within weeks of launch.
(Nordstrom)
Collaborations with high-end department stores like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and SAKS offer early access to limited-edition gift sets and new product launches. Personalized consultations, VIP masterclasses and pop-up experiences are also offered at specific flagship stores.
(Estée Lauder’s Instagram)
The Lauder Beauty Lounge pop-up, featured at SAKS and luxury retailers across Asia, delivers one-on-one skincare analysis, artist-led tutorial and early access to prestige lines like Re-Nutriv. AI and AR enhance the innovative experience with personalized recommendations and virtual try-ons for high-end customers.
(Moodie Davitt Report)
Preparing for holiday travels, in Winter 2024, Estée Lauder Travel Retail and China Duty Free produced the “Gifts of Pure Magic” activations in Hainan, China. Customers were offered a festive, multisensory gifting experience with interactive photo booths, makeover services and access to special travel sets. Holiday gift collabs with luxury chocolatier, Venchi, also added to the premium experience.
Agile Content: Adapting at Culture’s Speed
Once heavily reliant on traditional advertising, the brand now directs 90% of its marketing investment to digital channels like owned assets, retail platforms and creator partnerships.
In a recent keynote, Estée Lauder’s former SVP of GTM Analytics & Activation, noted their commitment to content. When viral moments emerge, Estée Lauder acts fast—immediately “licens[ing] the content and build[ing] 360-degree marketing around it.”
In 2021, a beauty influencer’s video praising their Advanced Night Repair went TikTok viral. Quickly licensing the clip, Estée Lauder distributed it heavily across all channels: social media ads, in-store displays, influencer partnerships and email marketing.
For example, in 2021, a TikTok influencer’s spontaneous praise for their Advanced Night Repair went viral. Quickly licensing the clip, Estée Lauder integrated it into a 360-degree campaign (social media ads, in-store displays, influencer partnerships and emails).
(TikTok)
This rapid response amplified authenticity while maximizing reach, turning an accidental endorsement into a 20% sales jump.
(Feng Chen Wang’s Instagram)
Globally, the brand leverages local influencer partnerships for cultural relevance.
In China, a collaboration with popular designer Feng Chen Wang featured collectible packaging with traditional Chinese prints. The limited-edition collection trended on social media: #EstéeLauderxFengChenWang generated 19 million views and 1 million organic posts on China’s top social media platform, Weibo.
(Estée Lauder, “My Shade, My Story” campaign)
In 2023, Estée Lauder launched its “My Shade, My Story” TikTok campaign to promote the 60-shade range of their Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation.
Centered on inclusivity, the campaign invited users to share their shade and what makeup and identity means to them. Authentic, user-generated stories drove emotional engagement and viral reach on a social platform that prioritizes relatable, emotionally engaging narratives.
In just two weeks, the campaign earned over 58 million views, fueled by local voices leading the conversation on identity and representation.
The Estée Lauder Blueprint: Emotion, Data and Speed
Estée Lauder’s success offers a clear blueprint for any brand, legacy or emerging:
- Know Your Brand DNA: Define your core identity.
- Craft Micro-Stories: Tell powerful, personalized stories that resonate emotionally.
- Scale with Tech: Amplify reach and precision through strategic technology investments.
- Stay Culturally Fluent: Adapt content frequently to cultural shifts and local voices. Speed is crucial.
The lesson? Clarity wins, connection converts and the future belongs to brands that move fast without losing their authentic voice.
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