How it started

L’Oréal has a history of being close to the market, to stay on top of trends, and be open and curious. But today, culture and context are changing rapidly, and consumers have become more diverse than ever before in their needs and passions. With travel and time constraints limiting the ability to be ‘on the ground’ and in close contact with consumers, L’Oréal was looking for a solution that would allow employees and consumers across the globe to connect with each other with just a few clicks.

L’Oréal required a human engagement program at global scale, allowing teams to keep a finger on the pulse, empathize with the consumer world, install a consumer-first culture, and eventually make better and faster decisions.

How we inspired change

Together, we developed BeautyTalks, the L’Oréal Global Consumer Connect Program, combining state-of-the art technology with human engagement and internal activation for enterprise adoption.

At the heart of the program, we have the BeautyTalks Studio, a digital platform which facilitates connects across the globe and stimulates a culture of sharing back. The BeautyTalks Studio is centered around five key functionalities:

• Learn: access to various training materials, incl. a set of conversation templates, allowing employees to grow their skillset and make the most of their connects.
• Book: a DIY booking tool and a custom booking option – the matchmaking tool – allowing also for full-service connect events. These hybrid booking options are L’Oréal’s gateway to thousands of pre-screened consumers in 29 countries, prosumers, healthcare professionals and hairdressers.
• Share: an overview of short and snappy ‘AHA’ moments (meaningful observations) from the connect sessions, created by and for L’Oréal colleagues, building a learning curve across markets, divisions and categories.
• Consult: a video library containing all connect recordings to browse through, (re-)watch and learn from.
• Track: a connect and budget tracker, allowing all stakeholders to track their team’s progress on number of connects, the impact of the connects, and budget spendings.

Activating an organisation around consumer empathy requires more than a belief. We needed to drive BeautyTalks users through the adoption journey – from awareness, to consideration, to belief, to engagement, and eventually advocacy. Together with L’Oréal, we developed a communication campaign and layered activation strategy to ensure new habits around connects were formed. Live onboarding trainings, the BeautyTalks Playbook and value add messaging throughout were pivotal in ensuring that connects became embedded in the daily business practice. Being a consumer-centric agency, we were also able to provide additional services in response to the teams’ needs, such as consumer-centricity-themed workshopping, connect events, and reporting linked to doing connects.

How it lives on

Since its launch in 2021, our program has engaged more than 3,000 L’Oréal stakeholders across 30 entities. With a satisfaction score of 4.6 out of 5 and a recommendation score of 8.7 out of 10, the program is perceived as both impactful and of added value to the business. The impact surveys consistently demonstrate the program’s growing effectiveness in shaping the hearts (8.7/10), minds (8.3/10), and actions (8.0/10) of L’Oréal stakeholders year after year.

But our journey doesn’t stop here. Together with L’Oréal we’re constantly evolving our thinking, approach and technology. In 2024, we introduced AI-generated summaries for each connect and are now exploring AI avatars for key targets and topics. This innovation aims to unlock even more valuable, authentic insights for the business.

In 2024, this research program earned the prestigious Silver Esomar Research Effectiveness Award, spotlighting its impact and innovation in the field.