Lauder Respects Bloggers

Estée Lauder has stepped out from behind department store counters and on to the internet. Speaking at a recent forum sponsored by Women’s World Daily,company executives said that the fastest growing category online is beauty how-to. This year there are more Web browsers running on mobile devices around the world than on personal computers.

“Consumers are no longer interested in being spoken to from on high,” said Dennis McEniry, ELC Online president. “They want a seat at the table.”

A campaign in which MAC makeup artists tweeted from behind the scenes of New York Fashion Week got 500,000 views for spring-summer 2009, more than 2 million views for fall-winter 2009 and was widely picked up by beauty bloggers.

Targeted e-mails — such as those about lipstick to customers who indicate an interest in color — have produced sales increases of as much as 500 percent.

Clinique received more than 14,500 product reviews in less than a year. The average product rating across all sites is 4.7 out of 5. Reviews are edited only for hateful speech and pornography.

Estée Lauder is shifting more of its marketing budget into the social arena. “We’re trying to be where our consumers are,” said Mr. McEniry.