T H E P O W E R L I S T
W O M E N I N F A S H I O N
8. Aerin Lauder
Putting A Fresh Face On A Venerable Brand
In an upcoming ad for Estée Lauder's Clear Difference skin
treatment, a ponytailed Carolyn Murphy lounges on leaf green and
white pillows wearing homemade jewelry. "She looks pure and
beautiful and approachable," says Aerin Lauder, who oversaw the
campaign (and made sure the green pillows were exactly the same
shade as the product's packaging).
Pure, beautiful and approachable are actually adjectives that
could be used to describe Lauder. With her patrician good looks,
the 33-year-old granddaughter of company founder Estée Lauder has
long been a regular in the society and fashion pages. "Aerin will
always be the outward face of Estée Lauder, showing you what the
brand means," says William Schmitz, an analyst at Deutsche Bank
who covers the cosmetics industry.
In 2001, Lauder was charged with translating the brand in another
way. Following posts as director of marketing for Prescriptives
(owned by the Estée Lauder Cos.) and six years in creative
product development and marketing at Estée Lauder, she was named
vice president of global advertising, in charge of all
advertising for the Estée Lauder brand.
Lauder set out to give the $2.7 billion-a-year flagship—which
was losing ground as the No. 1 cosmetics brand in the prestige
category and whose core customer had crept up into the
fortysomething age range—an image makeover. She lobbied
successfully to bring on Murphy as a spokeswoman alongside
veteran Elizabeth Hurley, signed Ethiopian-born Liya Kebede to
the company's first major contract with a black model and
replaced brand lensman Steven Meisel with Mario Testino, whose
naturalistic aesthetic seemed more suited to the times. And she
stuck with the same small cadre of creatives for each campaign.
"We used to use one stylist for one ad, another stylist for
another," says Lauder. "I think it was a mistake."
