Melissa McCarthy and her four staff members plan five to seven press events for the Estee Lauder brand each year, including single product launches, product overviews and celebrity-driven events.
What is the greatest challenge of your job right now?
Only being able to execute a small amount of ideas. There are so many good ideas coming out of the brand that I wish we had the time, budget and wherewithal to do something massively creative for each of them.
What is the main limiting factor-time, staff or budget?
We try to be respectful of our audiences' time, and our main audience is beauty editors. From an internal standpoint, I can only ask the executives and the people who run the brand for so much of their time?even though they may be happy to go to our events. We've had to retrain our brains to do events that are time and cost-effective, yet impactful, creative and informative. The biggest challenge is how to get across all the ideas you have without asking editors to come to an event every three days.
Beauty editors go to events all the time. How do you make your events stand out?
We try to keep it simple. We are constantly re-evaluating our events and how we present information, products and image to our audience. Doing an overview twice a year?the editors love that, because it's one-stop shopping. They're going to get a ton of information instead of getting it piecemeal.
Estée Lauder markets products as elegant and luxurious. How do you replicate these values on a budget?
We are very careful to pay attention to detail. One of the values of Est?e Lauder is its simplicity. Our events don't have to be over-the-top-they can be chic and modern, but the little things make it feel luxurious. You notice a fabric that is specially created to go on the tables in an otherwise simple room. It's that one detail?that the fabric on the tables matches the fabric in the ad, so people walk in and say, "Wow, Est?e Lauder really thought about this."
How is your budget changing?
I have the same budget I had three years ago. Yet we've had to reallocate our budget to different types of events. In December we had an event where we didn't make it about products; we invited guests to see our new spring ad campaign. We put our budget towards that event because it represented a whole evolution in our brand imaging. We didn't have products out being tested, but we did have Elizabeth Hurley, Liya Kebede and Carolyn Murphy in the same room for the first time with the editors.
What trends are you seeing in events?
In fashion-related events there seems to be a sense that the event should be as interesting and interactive as possible, but short and simple. I don't think people have the time to be sitting at a four-hour event anymore, mainly because there are too many events going on. Event planners are trying to be much more respectful of people's time, while still producing something exciting and thoughtful.
Do you try new vendors, or do you tend to work with the same people?
By virtue of working for a big company, we've had a lot of exposure to really great talent and I do like to work, sometimes, with the same people. If you are constantly going to new vendors you have to live through someone trying to reinvent the brand each time. In my experience, it's nice to have people who understand the brand and some of its history and how you like to do things, but also can come up with something new and fresh every time.
—Sara Neuffer
What is the greatest challenge of your job right now?
Only being able to execute a small amount of ideas. There are so many good ideas coming out of the brand that I wish we had the time, budget and wherewithal to do something massively creative for each of them.
What is the main limiting factor-time, staff or budget?
We try to be respectful of our audiences' time, and our main audience is beauty editors. From an internal standpoint, I can only ask the executives and the people who run the brand for so much of their time?even though they may be happy to go to our events. We've had to retrain our brains to do events that are time and cost-effective, yet impactful, creative and informative. The biggest challenge is how to get across all the ideas you have without asking editors to come to an event every three days.
Beauty editors go to events all the time. How do you make your events stand out?
We try to keep it simple. We are constantly re-evaluating our events and how we present information, products and image to our audience. Doing an overview twice a year?the editors love that, because it's one-stop shopping. They're going to get a ton of information instead of getting it piecemeal.
Estée Lauder markets products as elegant and luxurious. How do you replicate these values on a budget?
We are very careful to pay attention to detail. One of the values of Est?e Lauder is its simplicity. Our events don't have to be over-the-top-they can be chic and modern, but the little things make it feel luxurious. You notice a fabric that is specially created to go on the tables in an otherwise simple room. It's that one detail?that the fabric on the tables matches the fabric in the ad, so people walk in and say, "Wow, Est?e Lauder really thought about this."
How is your budget changing?
I have the same budget I had three years ago. Yet we've had to reallocate our budget to different types of events. In December we had an event where we didn't make it about products; we invited guests to see our new spring ad campaign. We put our budget towards that event because it represented a whole evolution in our brand imaging. We didn't have products out being tested, but we did have Elizabeth Hurley, Liya Kebede and Carolyn Murphy in the same room for the first time with the editors.
What trends are you seeing in events?
In fashion-related events there seems to be a sense that the event should be as interesting and interactive as possible, but short and simple. I don't think people have the time to be sitting at a four-hour event anymore, mainly because there are too many events going on. Event planners are trying to be much more respectful of people's time, while still producing something exciting and thoughtful.
Do you try new vendors, or do you tend to work with the same people?
By virtue of working for a big company, we've had a lot of exposure to really great talent and I do like to work, sometimes, with the same people. If you are constantly going to new vendors you have to live through someone trying to reinvent the brand each time. In my experience, it's nice to have people who understand the brand and some of its history and how you like to do things, but also can come up with something new and fresh every time.
—Sara Neuffer
