L'Oréal Bans AI Faces to Defend Trust

How L’Oreal Is Adapting to Meet the New Beauty Era | Quantum Marketing — Bloomberg Originals

Bloomberg Originals

L'Oréal bans artificial intelligence-generated faces in external communications to preserve consumer trust while deploying proprietary dermatological data to dominate large language model search results.

AI-assisted summary of How L’Oreal Is Adapting to Meet the New Beauty Era | Quantum Marketing — original source. Check the original for full context.

Source published:

Key ideas

  • L'Oréal has instituted an explicit ethical boundary barring the use of AI-generated, lifelike faces, bodies, hair, or skin to demonstrate product efficacy in external advertising. (17:04)
  • To capture generative AI search queries in what L'Oréal calls the 'answer layer', the company is leveraging its network of 280,000 healthcare professionals and 850 peer-reviewed scientific publications to position its brands as foundational truth sources for LLMs. (17:04)
  • Anticipating demographic shifts, L'Oréal is orienting its long-term product R&D around forecasts that 43% of the global population will have curly or coily hair by 2040, and one in six individuals will be over age 65 by 2050. (3:26)
  • The company relies on a tiered creator ecosystem of roughly 500,000 influencers, prioritizing micro-creators with 1,000 to 10,000 followers who yield engagement rates nearly triple those of macro-influencers. (9:07)

Detailed notes

## Background Published by Bloomberg Originals on YouTube on October 14, 2026, this episode of Quantum Marketing features host Raja Rajamannar interviewing Asmita Dubey, Global Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at L'Oréal. The show explores how the century-old beauty giant is adapting to industry-wide transformation driven by the creator economy, beauty technology, and artificial intelligence-powered personalization.

## TL;DR Host Raja Rajamannar and L'Oréal CDMO Asmita Dubey explore how marketing has evolved from unilateral corporate messaging to fragmented, community-led, peer-to-peer discovery across social platforms. To meet these shifts, L'Oréal leverages a tiered pyramid of nearly 500,000 creators, leans into organic viral culture, and deploys diagnostic beauty technologies like ModiFace and Lancôme's Skin Screen to simplify consumer choices. Dubey articulates the company's balance of 'math and magic,' detailing a strict ethical policy against using synthetic AI faces for product efficacy claims while positioning L'Oréal's deep scientific research to dominate the emerging LLM 'answer layer.'

## Atmosphere & style The conversation carries a polished, analytical, and executive-level tone, characterized by an easy rapport between two seasoned marketing veterans. Rajamannar guides the discussion with structured curiosity, prompting Dubey to blend high-level strategic theory with grounded commercial examples. The dialogue feels both pragmatic and forward-looking, balancing the clinical rigor of dermatological science and algorithms with an enthusiastic appreciation for pop culture, human emotion, and authentic creativity.

## Bulletin - [17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) L'Oréal has instituted an explicit ethical boundary barring the use of AI-generated, lifelike faces, bodies, hair, or skin to demonstrate product efficacy in external advertising. - [17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) To capture generative AI search queries in what L'Oréal calls the 'answer layer', the company is leveraging its network of 280,000 healthcare professionals and 850 peer-reviewed scientific publications to position its brands as foundational truth sources for LLMs. - [03:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=206s) Anticipating demographic shifts, L'Oréal is orienting its long-term product R&D around forecasts that 43% of the global population will have curly or coily hair by 2040, and one in six individuals will be over age 65 by 2050. - [09:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=547s) The company relies on a tiered creator ecosystem of roughly 500,000 influencers, prioritizing micro-creators with 1,000 to 10,000 followers who yield engagement rates nearly triple those of macro-influencers.

## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=0s) The past decade of beauty marketing has been fundamentally characterized by fragmentation across both consumer touchpoints and specialized marketing disciplines. - [03:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=206s) Long-term legacy brand survival requires matching product formulation and R&D pipelines to macro-demographic shifts decades ahead of time. - [05:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=345s) Marketing authority has shifted chronologically from top-down brand messaging ('brand-say') to influencer validation ('influencer-say') and ultimately to decentralized peer-to-peer recommendation ('people-say'). - [05:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=345s) Organic cultural moments and social memes can be converted into major commercial engines by embracing audience humor, as demonstrated by CeraVe's campaign with Kevin Durant. - [09:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=547s) Micro and nano creators drive hyper-engaged niche loyalty, democratizing beauty standards away from historical luxury house mandates and toward diverse, relatable representation. - [12:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=727s) Virtual try-ons and clinical-grade diagnostic tech address a critical consumer hurdle, resolving shelf confusion reported by roughly 70% of beauty shoppers. - [12:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=727s) L'Oréal scales its diagnostic capabilities through dermatologist-trained AI models deployed simultaneously across in-store physical hardware and web-based applications. - [15:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=934s) Effective modern brand building requires balancing 'math and magic' by moving at the speed of culture while evolving at the pace of technological innovation. - [17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) L'Oréal strictly prohibits synthetic AI representations of humans to showcase product efficacy, preserving consumer authenticity while confining generative AI to background production assets. - [17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) As generative AI chatbots replace traditional search bars, brands must strategically populate the LLM 'answer layer' with verified scientific data and clinical research.

## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=0s) The Transformation of Beauty and the Problem of Fragmentation

The beauty industry is undergoing a structural disruption driven by artificial intelligence, personalization, and the creator economy. Major legacy institutions face a stark choice: adapt in real time to fast-shifting consumer behavior or risk irrelevance. Host Raja Rajamannar opens by observing that the foundational rules of marketing have dissolved. The legacy playbook—manufacturing a product, purchasing mass reach, and dictating a brand message—has been replaced by a dynamic environment governed by data science, behavioral economics, and real-time response.

Sitting down with Asmita Dubey, Global Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at L'Oréal Group, Rajamannar explores her career across advertising, digital media, and beauty. Reflecting on her path, Dubey notes that effective media has always been rooted in mapping touchpoints along the consumer journey, but warns that marketing execution has grown dangerously fractured. When asked to characterize the defining hurdle of the past ten years, she points directly to the splintering of both consumer behavior and organizational specialization across channels, formats, and funnels.

> “I feel, you know, more and more that if I were to sum up the challenges of the last decade of marketing in one word, you know the word that I would use is fragmentation, because if you look at the consumer journey, the consumer journey has been fragmenting over the decade into offline and online, into upper funnel and lower funnel into so many platforms with so many different formats that they keep coming up with, and then you look at the marketer's journey, and the marketer's journey is also fragmenting.” — Asmita Dubey

- Marketing disciplines have split into siloed specialties: product, brand, content, social, influencer, data-driven, media, and e-commerce marketing. - The proliferation of touchpoints has eroded holistic brand understanding, raising the question of whether AI can reverse this friction by unifying disconnected consumer journeys.

---

[03:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=206s) Adapting a Century-Old Brand to Changing Demographics and Cultural Shifts

L'Oréal is a 115-year-old company built around enduring cultural taglines like "Because I'm worth it." In the context of consumer goods, surviving more than a century represents an eternity of shifting consumer mindsets. When Rajamannar asks how a legacy brand maintains its emotional bond while scaling larger, Dubey explains that beauty is a fundamental human constant that spans every era and geography. It acts simultaneously as an intimate personal desire and a public social signal tied directly to self-affirmation, self-worth, and evolving societal norms.

Maintaining relevance requires anticipating macro-demographic transformations and shifting cultural attitudes decades in advance. Demographic shifts dictate direct product formulation and R&D pipelines, while evolving attitudes toward self-expression and gender determine how products are used and perceived worldwide.

> “Beauty is an essential human need, and it has been like that across all time periods in humanity, across all cultures.” — Asmita Dubey

- **Hair texture demographics:** By 2040, an estimated 43% of the world's population will have curly or coily hair, forcing the industry to innovate specialized scalp treatments and oil-based care regimens. - **Aging populations:** By 2050, approximately one in six people globally will be over the age of 65, shifting product innovation toward longevity science and preventative skin health. - **Societal norms:** Changing perceptions of hair length and the advancing socio-economic standing of women across different global regions continually reshape beauty routines and market demand.

---

[05:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=345s) From Brand-Say to Peer-to-Peer: Social Platforms and Viral Cultural Moments

The flow of market authority has migrated away from unilateral corporate messaging toward community-led, peer-to-peer validation. Dubey charts this evolution across the milestone moments when major digital networks crossed the threshold of one billion users: YouTube in 2013 (which popularized how-to beauty tutorials), Instagram in 2018 (which elevated visual aesthetics), TikTok in 2021 (which accelerated short-form video and live-commerce), and OpenAI reaching one billion consumers by 2026. This latest shift changes discovery entirely, forcing brands to evaluate how their identity and product answers surface within generative AI search models.

```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: Platform Milestones and Communication Evolution accDescr: Timeline of social platforms hitting one billion users alongside the shift from top-down brand communication to peer-to-peer validation. subgraph Platforms["Scale Milestones"] Y["YouTube (2013)<br/>1B Users: Tutorials"] I["Instagram (2018)<br/>1B Users: Visual Feeds"] T["TikTok (2021)<br/>1B Users: Short Video & Reels"] O["OpenAI (2026)<br/>1B Users: The Answer Layer"] Y --> I --> T --> O end subgraph Influence["Communication Shift"] B["Brand-Say"] --> INF["Influencer-Say"] --> P["People-Say (Peer-to-Peer)"] end ```

To remain relevant in social-first environments, L'Oréal targets organic, user-generated conversations. When the company realized that Maybelline's classic tagline, "Maybe it's Maybelline," was one of the most shared brand audio jingles on social media without the company actively participating, it mobilized creators and tapped pop star Miley Cyrus to re-record and modernize the sound. The track was seeded back into social channels and migrated onto YouTube Music, completing an authentic loop from social discovery to social distribution.

Similarly, L'Oréal's skincare brand CeraVe capitalized on viral culture in the United States by embracing an ongoing internet meme involving NBA superstar Kevin Durant. For years, basketball fans playfully mocked Durant online for his visibly dry, "ashy" ankles, even after a game where he scored 35 points on 12 shots. Instead of avoiding the joke, CeraVe leaned into the conversation, partnering with Durant and officially crowning him their "new face of legs." The self-aware campaign turned an enduring social media critique into a major commercial and sales growth driver.

> “It's true that marketing has been shifting from brand say to influencers say to people say peer to peer even more than before, and social media and the new platforms are playing a huge role in it.” — Asmita Dubey

---

[09:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=547s) The Creator Pyramid, Micro-Communities, and Democratized Beauty

The scale of the modern influencer industry has expanded rapidly, surpassing $33 billion. Within this landscape, micro-influencers often deliver engagement rates nearly triple those of macro-influencers. Addressing L'Oréal's network of nearly 500,000 creators, Rajamannar asks what this sprawling ecosystem reveals that traditional market research cannot uncover. Dubey describes an operational creator pyramid spanning celebrity accounts with millions of followers down to hyper-focused micro-creators with 1,000 to 10,000 followers.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: The Creator Pyramid accDescr: A visual representation of the influencer ecosystem from macro creators down to micro and nano creators. subgraph Pyramid["Creator Ecosystem"] direction TB Macro["Macro Creators<br/>1M+ Followers<br/>Broad Brand Visibility"] Mid["Mid-Tier Creators<br/>100k - 1M Followers<br/>Category Authority"] Micro["Micro & Nano Creators<br/>1k - 10k Followers<br/>High Engagement & Passionate Communities"] Macro --- Mid --- Micro end ```

This tiered structure proves that commercial impact is not exclusive to massive reach; micro-communities centered around niche interests generate intense brand loyalty. Dubey emphasizes that generative tools will further democratize production, enabling talented creators anywhere to produce high-caliber creative assets.

This decentralized production model has redefined beauty aspiration. Historically, luxury houses such as Lancôme or Yves Saint Laurent Beauty dictated monolithic beauty standards from the top down. Today, beauty has been democratized: consumers learn about detailed ingredient lists, product safety, formulations, and application techniques directly from hundreds of thousands of relatable creators who reflect their own identities, skin tones, and lifestyles. This shift feeds into an industry-wide focus on wellness and longevity, where consumers increasingly demand clinically validated, science-backed formulations verified across retail apps, in-store tech, and online platforms.

> “Aspiration is moving from an aspiration which was only brand say, that a brand Lancome or a brand Yves Saint Laurent Beauty was talking to you and telling you what are the beauty standards, and therefore what is the aspiration, and I'm linking the two topics to an influencer and creator say, where hundreds and 1000s, almost millions of people are telling you that this is how you could look.” — Asmita Dubey

[12:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=727s) Immersive Beauty Tech: Virtual Try-Ons and Diagnostic Science

Raja Rajamannar prompts Asmita Dubey on how brands can provide consumers with realistic, immersive product trials prior to purchase, drawing an analogy to test-driving a car. Dubey explains that digital tools and beauty are a natural pairing, pointing back to the early days of L'Oréal Paris's Makeup Genius—the first mobile application allowing users to try on cosmetics directly through their smartphone cameras. To accelerate and scale this across their entire portfolio and partner ecosystem, L'Oréal acquired the augmented reality company ModiFace in 2018. That acquisition enabled the company to roll out virtual try-on experiences across all of its brands, digital channels, and external retail partners.

Beyond cosmetic try-ons, L'Oréal harnessed deep image recognition technology trained on tens of thousands of skin images evaluated and annotated by dermatologists to deliver clinical-grade skin diagnostics. Dubey highlights how L'Oréal links biological longevity research directly to consumer tech devices and both online and in-store services. For example, Lancôme launched its Absolue Longevity skincare line to target cellular age markers and reverse visible signs of aging. In department stores, Lancôme deploys the physical "Skin Screen" machine, where shoppers place their faces into an imaging rig for a comprehensive diagnostic of their skin's condition and specific needs. Consumers at home can access the exact same capability through the online "e-Skin Screen" by uploading photos through the brand's website.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: L'Oréal Diagnostic and Treatment Ecosystem accDescr: Flowchart illustrating the end-to-end consumer journey from diagnostic imaging to targeted product solutions. subgraph Diagnostics ["Diagnostic Layer"] A["Consumer Image Input"] --> B["Dermatologist-Trained AI Engine"] B --> C["Lancôme In-Store Skin Screen"] B --> D["Lancôme Online e-Skin Screen"] end subgraph Solutions ["Treatment & Formulation"] C --> E["Targeted Regimen Recommendation"] D --> E E --> F["Longevity Science Products<br>(e.g., Lancôme Absolue)"] end ```

Rajamannar connects these initiatives directly to core principles of his Quantum Marketing framework: building multi-sensory, immersive brand experiences, and identifying latent consumer needs that shoppers cannot articulate themselves. Dubey confirms that technology solves a massive consumer pain point: “Exactly, 70% of the consumers tell us that they're they just get lost. There are too many products on the shelf, so they don't know which one is right for them.”

- In 2018, L'Oréal acquired augmented reality pioneer ModiFace to scale virtual try-ons across its brand portfolio and third-party retail platforms. - Deep image recognition models are trained and validated against thousands of dermatologist-annotated clinical skin images. - Lancôme's Skin Screen service operates as an in-person counter imaging console as well as a browser-based e-Skin Screen tool. - 70% of beauty consumers report feeling overwhelmed and confused by the volume of products available on retail shelves.

[15:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=934s) Math and Magic: The Triad of Science, Technology, and Creativity

Rajamannar shifts to Dubey’s well-known philosophy that marketing is an equal balance of "math and magic." While data, computing power, and algorithms handle the left-brain analytical math, he asks how L'Oréal intentionally cultivates and unleashes the right-brain magic. Dubey answers that L'Oréal rests on three immutable innovation pillars: science, technology, and creativity. She reflects on the emotional reality of beauty, noting that the category relies on creating dopamine hits, generating desire, and fostering individual self-expression and self-confidence.

Dubey argues that preserving this balance requires brand builders to operate concurrently across cultural and technological frontiers: “We think brand building today is both about moving at the speed of culture and at the pace of technology today, and which is where I would say that overall we keep that balance.” Rather than replacing human artistry with automated tools, L'Oréal views artificial intelligence as an engine to augment human inventiveness. She emphasizes that creative capacity is embedded throughout the organization's entire operational chain—from the upstream teams conducting foundational research, product formulation, and brand identity development down to the downstream teams executing real-time, operational marketing in local markets.

[17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) AI Ethics, Authentic Beauty, and Dominating the LLM Answer Layer

Rajamannar raises a critical industry tension: several brands that have attempted to produce end-to-end promotional outputs, ad campaigns, or synthetic characters with generative AI have suffered consumer backlash and credibility gaps because audiences demand human authenticity. Dubey outlines L'Oréal's clear policy and strategic roadmap to navigate this dilemma, separating the challenge into internal creative production and external consumer authenticity.

To maintain trust, L'Oréal instituted a strict ethical boundary around product claims: “First of all, early on, we decided that beauty, like I said, is very personal and very social, and we are not going to use AI-generated, lifelike face, body, hair, or skin to enhance the product benefits in our external communication because real people use a shampoo.” While synthetic imagery is barred from depicting beauty results, L'Oréal actively deploys automated AI tools to generate background assets, streamline digital editing workflows, and alleviate the intense manual production demands placed on marketing teams.

Dubey then shifts to the second dimension: the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) as the modern search bar. As billions of consumers converse with AI chatbots as their primary discovery portal, brands must establish authority inside what she calls the "answer layer":

> “Billions of consumers are chatting and asking questions, which means we need to be in the answer layer. And at L'Oréal, we want to be the the most definitive source of beauty truth.”

To ensure AI models cite L'Oréal as the authoritative, salient source of beauty answers, the company leverages its massive real-world scientific footprint: - An established network of 280,000 healthcare professionals generating billions of proprietary dermatological data points. - A library of 850 peer-reviewed scientific publications, including 50 published in the past year alone. - A high-authority digital presence designed to feed factual, science-backed truth directly into foundational LLM architectures.

Rajamannar concludes the discussion by summarizing L'Oréal’s broader imperative: bridging over a century of traditional brand building with modern creator partnerships, personalized diagnostic tools, and algorithmic discovery. As beauty consumer behavior fragments across decentralized digital platforms, translating this hybrid approach across dozens of global brands represents the central challenge for the company's next century of operations.

## Notable quotes > [03:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=206s) Beauty is an essential human need, and it has been like that across all time periods in humanity, across all cultures. — Asmita Dubey

> [17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) Billions of consumers are chatting and asking questions, which means we need to be in the answer layer. — Asmita Dubey

## Mentioned L'Oréal, Raja Rajamannar, Asmita Dubey, Bloomberg Originals, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, OpenAI, Maybelline, Miley Cyrus, CeraVe, Kevin Durant, Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent Beauty, ModiFace, Makeup Genius, Lancôme Absolue, Skin Screen

## Video description The beauty industry has entered an age of dramatic transformation thanks to the creator economy and artificial intelligence-powered personalization. In this episode, Raja Rajamannar sits down with L'Oréal's Asmita Dubey, global chief digital and marketing officer, to unpack how the century-old brand is trying to capitalize on the influencer economy and beauty technology.

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[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0)

中文简报

欧莱雅禁用AI生成面孔以维护信任 欧莱雅在对外沟通中禁止使用人工智能生成的面孔以维护消费者信任，同时利用专有皮肤学数据在大型语言模型搜索结果中占据主导地位。 主持人Raja Rajamannar与欧莱雅首席数字与营销官Asmita Dubey探讨了营销如何从单向的企业信息传播，演变为社交平台上分散的、社群主导的点对点发现。为应对这些转变，欧莱雅利用由近50万名创作者组成的分层金字塔，融入自然传播的病毒式文化，并部署ModiFace以及兰蔻Skin Screen等美妆诊断技术来简化消费者选择。Dubey阐述了公司对“理智与魔法”的平衡，详细说明了严禁使用合成AI面孔展示产品功效的伦理政策，同时致力于凭借欧莱雅深厚的科学研究实力，在新兴的LLM“问答层”中占据主导地位。 欧莱雅树立了明确的伦理红线，禁止在外部广告中使用AI生成的逼真面孔、身体、头发或皮肤来展示产品功效。 (17:04) 为了在欧莱雅所称的“问答层”中捕获生成式AI搜索查询，该公司正利用其由28万名医疗卫生专业人员组成的网络以及850篇经同行评审的科学出版物，将旗下品牌定位为LLM的基础可信来源。 (17:04) 鉴于人口结构的变化，欧莱雅正根据预测调整其长期产品研发方向，预计到2040年全球将有43%的人口拥有卷发或极卷发，到2050年每六人中就有一人年龄超过65岁。 (3:26) 该公司依赖由约50万名影响者组成的分层创作者生态系统，重点布局拥有1000至10000名粉丝的微型创作者，其互动率几乎是大型影响者的三倍。 (9:07)

Reading summary

L'Oréal is overhauling its century-old brand strategy to counter fragmented consumer journeys by pairing peer-driven social engagement with diagnostic technology and science-backed AI authority, according to Global Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Asmita Dubey. Channel Fragmentation and Decentralized Influence (0:00) Dubey identifies fragmentation as the central marketing challenge of the past decade, with consumer habits and marketing functions splitting across online and offline channels, multiple sales funnels, and niche operational silos. In response to this dispersal, brand authority has shifted away from top-down corporate messaging toward peer-to-peer and creator-led validation. The influencer economy has expanded past $33 billion, prompting L'Oréal to operate an ecosystem of roughly 500,000 creators across a tiered pyramid ranging from macro-influencers to niche micro-creators who drive higher engagement rates. Adapting to Demographic and Cultural Shifts (3:26) Maintaining relevance across 115 years requires forecasting long-term demographic shifts that dictate research and development pipelines decades in advance. By 2040, an estimated 43% of the global population will have curly or coily hair, prompting specialized scalp and oil-based formulations. By 2050, roughly one in six people worldwide will be over age 65, shifting product development toward longevity science and preventative skincare. In parallel, the company taps viral cultural moments to engage consumer communities organically, such as modernizing Maybelline's audio jingle with Miley Cyrus and partnering CeraVe with NBA star Kevin Durant around a running social media joke about his dry ankles. Diagnostic Technology for Retail Overwhelm (12:07) Because roughly 70% of beauty consumers report feeling overwhelmed by product choices on retail shelves, L'Oréal relies on personalized tech to guide purchasing decisions. Following its 2018 acquisition of augmented reality developer ModiFace, the group scaled virtual product try-ons across its brand portfolio and retail partners. For skincare, L'Oréal deploys deep image recognition engines trained on thousands of dermatologist-annotated images, powering tools such as Lancôme's in-store Skin Screen hardware and browser-based e-Skin Screen to deliver clinical diagnostics and personalized regimens linked to longevity science. AI Ethics and Establishing LLM Authority (17:04) To preserve consumer trust and avoid authenticity backlashes, L'Oréal prohibits the use of lifelike AI-generated faces, bodies, hair, or skin to exaggerate product efficacy in external advertisements, restricting generative AI to back-end creative workflows and asset generation. Concurrently, the company is positioning its data to dominate the "answer layer" as consumers migrate from traditional search engines to conversational AI models. To become the definitive reference for generative systems, L'Oréal relies on its base of 280,000 affiliated healthcare professionals and 850 peer-reviewed scientific publications to supply factual, proprietary data directly into foundational model architectures. Host Raja Rajamannar notes that the primary operational challenge for L'Oréal lies in consistently scaling this hybrid model—combining heritage brand equity, creator partnerships, diagnostic tech, and algorithmic authority—across dozens of global brands amid increasingly decentralized consumer behavior.

精炼阅读摘要

欧莱雅集团（L'Oréal Group）首席数字与营销官 Asmita Dubey 指出，在消费者旅程高度碎片化与生成式人工智能兴起的背景下，美妆巨头必须依靠科学、技术与创意的结合，将传统的品牌主导叙事转向去中心化的创作者生态与算法驱动的解答层。 渠道碎片化与人口结构的长期转变 (0:00) Dubey 将过去十年营销领域的首要挑战概括为“碎片化”，即消费者的触点分流至线上、线下、漏斗上游与下游的各类平台，导致营销职能割裂为产品、品牌、内容、社交及电商等独立孤岛。对于拥有115年历史的欧莱雅而言，维护品牌与受众的情感纽带需要数十年跨度的人口结构洞察与产品研发支撑。据欧莱雅预测，到2040年全球将有43%的人口拥有卷发，推动企业研发专用的头皮护理与油脂护理配方；到2050年全球约六分之一的人口将超过65岁，促使研发重心转向细胞抗衰老与预防性皮肤健康领域。 从品牌说教转向点对点社群传播 (5:45) 数字平台的演进正使市场影响力从单向的品牌宣导（Brand-Say）向达人代言（Influencer-Say）及用户点对点的社群验证（People-Say）转移。从2013年 YouTube 普及美妆教程、2018年 Instagram 塑造视觉美学、2021年 TikTok 推动短视频与直播电商，再到预估2026年 OpenAI 触达10亿用户，品牌的发现方式持续被重构。欧莱雅顺应这种变化，例如联合 Miley Cyrus 重新录制美宝莲（Maybelline）在社交平台上自发流传的经典音频广告语，并将作品推回流媒体；旗下护肤品牌适乐肤（CeraVe）则接纳网民多年来对 NBA 球星 Kevin Durant 腿部皮肤干燥的调侃，正式签约其为形象大使，成功将网络梗转化为实际的商业增长。 创作者金字塔与科学护肤的普及化 (9:07) 在规模突破330亿美元的创作者经济中，欧莱雅构建了连接近50万名创作者的网络，涵盖从百万粉丝的头部红人到粉丝量在1,000至10,000人之间的高互动微型创作者。Dubey 指出，去中心化的创作打破了兰蔻（Lancôme）或圣罗兰美妆（YSL Beauty）等传统奢侈品牌垄断的统一审美标准，消费者转而通过不同肤色与背景的真实创作者了解产品成分、配方安全性与使用技巧。这一变化也迎合了市场对科学验证配方的需求，在70%的消费者面对繁杂货架感到困惑的背景下，为成分党和健康老龄化趋势提供了透明的决策依据。 沉浸式美妆科技与诊断算法集成 (12:07) 欧莱雅通过技术整合缩短消费者的试错成本。集团于2018年收购增强现实公司 ModiFace，将虚拟试妆工具普及到旗下品牌及外部零售合作伙伴。在护肤领域，欧莱雅利用经皮肤科医生标注的数万张临床图像训练深度图像识别模型。兰蔻推出的 Absolue Longevity 系列便依托此技术，在线下专柜部署“Skin Screen”皮肤检测设备，在线上提供同等算法的“e-Skin Screen”网页分析工具，引导消费者根据诊断结果定制护肤方案，解决信息过载问题。 AI伦理红线与大语言模型解答层构建 (17:04) 针对生成式 AI 在营销中引发的真实性争议，欧莱雅确立了严格的道德界限：严禁在外部宣传中使用 AI 生成的逼真人脸、身材、发质或皮肤来夸大产品功效，但允许在背景素材生成与数字后期制作中运用 AI 提高生产效率。与此同时，随着生成式大模型成为现代信息搜索的主入口，欧莱雅着力布局大语言模型的“解答层”（Answer Layer）。依托由28万名医疗保健专业人员组成的网络、数十亿条专有皮肤学数据点以及包括过去一年内发表的50篇在内的850篇同行评议学术论文，欧莱雅致力于成为 AI 底层架构引用的权威科学美妆事实来源。 欧莱雅的转型反映了传统消费品牌在面对去中心化内容生态与算法推荐时的自我重构，即以坚实的底层科研数据应对大语言模型的抓取，同时在外部传播中严控 AI 假象以维系消费者信任。然而，如何在庞大的全球子品牌矩阵中同步推行这一高度依赖技术与伦理自律的混合架构，仍是集团面临的长期运营挑战。

Detailed notes — zh

## Background 本期内容由彭博旗下频道 Bloomberg Originals 于 2026 年 10 月 14 日发布在 YouTube 平台。节目围绕创作者经济与人工智能个性化技术对美妆行业带来的深刻变革展开，由 Raja Rajamannar 对话欧莱雅集团全球首席数字与营销官 Asmita Dubey，探讨这家拥有百年历史的巨头如何利用网红生态与美妆科技完成自我革新。 ## TL;DR 节目深入剖析了欧莱雅在数字与 AI 浪潮下的全方位转型路径。欧莱雅通过紧扣全球人口结构变迁与长寿科学，打破由平台与职能带来的“碎片化”营销困境，并从传统的单向说教转向由微型创作者和去中心化社交梗驱动的互动模式。在技术层面，集团依托 Modiface 虚拟试妆、线上线下深度肌肤诊断生态以及数十亿级皮肤学科学数据，构建了沉浸式的多感官服务壁垒。同时，欧莱雅划定严守真实性的伦理红线——坚决不用 AI 生成虚拟肉身夸大功效，力求在大模型普及的生成式搜索时代，凭借坚实的科研积淀成为全球美妆领域最权威的“真理之源”。 ## Atmosphere & style 对谈散发着兼具理性思辨与行业前瞻的商业访谈质感，两位资深营销领袖在左脑的“科技数据”与右脑的“感性魔法”之间自如切换。Raja Rajamannar 的提问直击行业痛点且富有理论框架感，而 Asmita Dubey 的应答则从容务实，既有微观层面的爆款营销操盘细节，又有宏观层面的大模型权威层布局。整体节奏明快、层次分明，让观众在沉浸式感知百年美妆帝国科技跃迁的同时，真切体会到理性算力与人性审美共振的张力。 ## Bulletin - [17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) 欧莱雅布局大模型时代的“答案层”（answer layer），依托全球 28 万名医疗卫生专业人士沉淀的数十亿科学数据点及 850 篇权威科学文献，力争成为生成式 AI 提供美妆建议时的权威真相来源。 - [09:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=547s) 创作者经济规模突破 330 亿美元，欧莱雅与近 50 万名创作者建立合作，其中粉丝仅数千至上万的微型创作者因社群高粘性，互动转化率达头部红人的近三倍。 - [03:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=206s) 在人口与社会结构演进方面，欧莱雅预测到 2040 年全球将有 43% 人口拥有卷发或极卷发质，到 2050 年全球六分之一人口将超过 65 岁，推动品牌聚焦护发结构革新与长寿科学（longevity science）。 - [17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) 面对 AI 虚假内容引发的公信力挑战，欧莱雅划定伦理红线，坚决不使用 AI 生成的逼真面部、身材、头发或皮肤来夸大产品功效，仅将 AI 用于内容自动化与背景场景生成。 ## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=0s) 传统品牌单向灌输信息的营销模式已终结，数据科学、行为经济学与 AI 正驱动营销迈向多感官体验与实时敏捷响应的“量子营销”时代。 - [01:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=110s) 过去十年营销面临的核心痛点是“碎片化”，既体现为消费者触点线上线下的割裂，也体现为企业内部品牌、媒介、社交与电商等职能间的过度细分。 - [03:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=206s) 欧莱雅维系百年长青的关键在于同时把握人口统计学特征与大众观念演进，据此提前布局卷发护理生态与高龄群体的长寿护肤科技。 - [05:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=340s) 美妆传播语境历经平台迁移，正从“品牌说”（YouTube/Instagram）走向去中心化的“同行/人人说”（TikTok），并将在 2026 年迎战 AI 对话层触达。 - [05:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=340s) 善用社交网络原生梗可实现破圈增长，如美宝莲重塑经典旋律与适乐肤借杜兰特脚踝干裂梗将其聘为美腿代言人，均实现了从社交洞察到爆款转化的闭环。 - [09:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=547s) 美妆的“向往感”正在社交网络与易用创作工具推动下实现民主化，成千上万创作者的真实测评与手法分享打破了高端品牌的单向审美定义。 - [12:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=727s) 通过 2018 年收购 Modiface 并在全线铺开 AR 试妆，欧莱雅满足了消费者在购买前提前获得逼真体验的沉浸式多感官需求。 - [12:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=727s) 欧莱雅打造了端到端肌肤诊断生态，通过线下柜台测肤仪 Skin Screen 与线上云诊断 eSkin Screen 解决 70% 消费者面对海量产品时的选品迷茫。 - [15:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=934s) 品牌建设被定义为“数学与魔法的结合”，必须兼顾科学、技术与创意三大支柱，使品牌演进同时紧跟文化速度与科技步伐。 - [17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) 面对大语言模型成为探索美妆知识的新入口，欧莱雅凭借庞大专业数据资产构建数字化权威印记，确保在 AI 答案层中占据主导事实地位。 ## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=0s) 营销规则巨变：从单向灌输到“量子营销” 美妆行业正步入一场深刻的剧烈变革。创作者经济与 AI 驱动的个性化正在重塑整个行业格局，倒逼欧莱雅（L'Oréal）等老牌巨头快速调整以契合消费者兴趣的迁移，否则就面临被淘汰的风险。主持人 Raja Rajamannar 指出，美妆是跨越人类所有历史时期与文化的根本需求，既具深刻的社会属性，又极其个人化。在这样的时代巨浪面前，一家拥有百年历史的传统品牌能否保住自己在化妆台上的主导地位，成为了核心议题。 Raja 回顾道，过去的营销曾经非常单纯：品牌制造产品、花钱购买消费者的注意力，并牢牢掌控信息传播的话语权。如今那个时代已经彻底终结，数据科学、行为经济学以及人工智能等前沿技术正在重构营销的本质；在任何瞬间皆是商业机遇的当下，品牌必须具备对消费者诉求进行实时响应的能力。作为《量子营销》（Quantum Marketing）的作者与资深营销人，Raja 本期与欧莱雅集团全球首席数字与营销官（Global Chief Digital and Marketing Officer）Asmita Dubey 展开对谈，拆解这家美妆巨擘的转型路径。 ```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: 营销范式转变 accDescr: 展示传统营销与现代量子营销在信息流向和驱动技术上的核心对比。 subgraph Traditional["传统营销范式"] T1["制造产品"] --> T2["购买注意力"] --> T3["单向掌控信息"] end subgraph Modern["量子营销与 AI 时代"] M1["数据科学 & 行为经济学"] --> M2["实时敏捷响应"] --> M3["全渠道动态互动"] end ``` --- ### [01:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=110s) 营销十年之痛：旅程与职能的双重“碎片化” 在谈及个人职业履历时，Asmita Dubey 回顾了自己在广告、媒体、数字领域以及欧莱雅美妆业务中的实战经验。她指出，行之有效的媒介传播核心在于把握消费者旅程（consumer journey）和各个触点（touch points），但营销最底层的逻辑始终没有改变——满足消费者的需求，通过相关性、差异化和情感共鸣帮助他们在众多选项中做出抉择。 当被要求用一个词提炼过去十年营销面临的挑战时，Asmita 毫不犹豫地选择了“碎片化”（fragmentation）。这种割裂同时发生在外部消费者与内部组织架构两端： - **消费者端旅程割裂**：用户触点被严重拆解为线上与线下、漏斗上层（认知）与漏斗下层（转化），并散落于层出不穷的平台及其日新月异的内容形式中。 - **营销者职能割裂**：营销团队内部被划分为产品营销、品牌营销、内容营销、社交营销、红人营销、数据驱动营销、媒介营销及电商营销等专业壁垒。 Asmita 总结道：“And I'm hoping that as AI opens a new chapter in marketing, what can AI do? Can it help, like reduce that fragmentation? Let's see.” 这种过度细分虽有专业优势，但也让人容易丧失对全局的整体把控，而她正在探索 AI 是否能成为缝合这些碎片化断层的关键解法。 --- ### [03:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=206s) 百年品牌的长青秘密：人口结构、长寿科学与社会规范 面对欧莱雅约 115 年的品牌积淀，Raja 提出疑问：对于瞬息万变的消费者思想演进，一个多世纪堪比永恒，欧莱雅如何能维系其品牌号召力并不断壮大？Asmita 强调，美妆承载着人类对于自我肯定、建立自信和投射社会规范的欲望，而这要求品牌时刻把握社会演进的两个维度：人口统计学特征（demographics）与大众态度观念（attitudes）。 在人口演进与科技创新方面，Asmita 列举了两个极其具体的数据预测： - **发质结构变迁**：预计到 2040 年，全球将有 43% 的人口拥有卷发或极卷发质（curly or coily hair），这将彻底重构以护发精油和头皮护理为核心的日常护发方案。 - **老龄化与长寿科学**：预计到 2050 年，全球每六个人中就有一人超过 65 岁，这决定了品牌必须发力“长寿科学”（longevity science）创新，以保障高龄群体的皮肤健康。 除了生理与人口层面的变动，大众对发型长短偏好乃至女性在社会中地位的变化，都在持续影响着美妆消费需求。欧莱雅正是通过紧盯这些宏观结构的变化，维持着长达一个多世纪的行业相关度。 --- ### [05:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=340s) 从“品牌说”到“同行说”：社交梗驱动的破圈爆款 美妆行业的沟通语境正经历剧烈转移。Asmita 梳理了主流科技平台迈入“10亿用户俱乐部”的时间线，并指出沟通模式正在从“品牌说”（brand say）过渡到“红人说”（influencer say），进而演进为去中心化的“同行/人人说”（people say / peer to peer）： - 2013 年：YouTube 突破 10 亿用户，带动美妆实操教程（how-to videos）风潮； - 2018 年：Instagram 突破 10 亿用户； - 2021 年：TikTok 突破 10 亿用户，短视频、Reels 与直播成为美妆表达主流； - 2026 年：OpenAI 预计达到 10 亿用户，促使品牌必须重新构思自己在 AI 生成与回答层（answer layer）中的触达机制。 ```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: 沟通语境演变与平台规模扩张时间线 accDescr: 展示主流科技平台突破10亿用户的节点及营销沟通模式的迁移路径。 subgraph Timeline["10亿用户里程碑"] Y2013["2013: YouTube<br/>美妆教程与长视频"] --> Y2018["2018: Instagram<br/>视觉图文与生活方式"] Y2018 --> Y2021["2021: TikTok<br/>短视频与直播生态"] Y2021 --> Y2026["2026 (预估): OpenAI<br/>AI 生成与回答层布局"] end subgraph Shifts["传播语境迁移"] S1["品牌主导 (Brand Say)"] --> S2["达人背书 (Influencer Say)"] --> S3["去中心化/人人说 (Peer to Peer)"] end ``` 针对年轻人聚集的社交生态，Asmita 剖析了欧莱雅将“社交洞察”反哺为品牌营销资产的两个经典操盘案例： 1. **美宝莲（Maybelline）重构经典广告语**：“Maybe it's Maybelline”（美宝莲，也许是她）本身是社交网络上被提及最多的品牌洗脑旋律（jingle）之一，但品牌原先并未充分融入民间的二创互动。欧莱雅联动广大创作者激活该话题，并邀请流行天后麦莉·赛勒斯（Miley Cyrus）重新演绎这首旋律，使其顺势攻占 YouTube Music 等流媒体榜单，完成从“社交端洞察”回到“社交端爆发”的闭环。 2. **适乐肤（CeraVe）携手球星凯文·杜兰特（Kevin Durant）**：为了拓展美国本土客群，品牌捕捉到了长期在社交网络上引发热议的“网络梗”——杜兰特常年因脚踝皮肤干裂泛白（ashy ankles）遭到球迷调侃，杜兰特本人甚至公开回应称自己单场 12 投拿下 35 分的表现远比干燥的脚踝重要。适乐肤顺水推舟，索性直接加冕他为品牌“美腿新代言人”（the new face of legs），将负面调侃转化为现象级营销，带动销量实现了爆发式增长。 --- ### [09:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=547s) 微型创作者的威力与美妆愿景的“民主化” 创作者经济展现出惊人的变现规模，去年全行业体量已突破 330 亿美元。面对欧莱雅正在与近 50 万名创作者展开合作的现状，Raja 提出微型创作者相比传统市场调研究竟带来了何种全新认知。 Asmita 阐明，创作者生态呈现出多梯度的金字塔体系（pyramid of creators）： - 拥有百万级以上粉丝的头部宏观创作者（macro influencers）； - 拥有 1 万粉甚至仅 1000 多名粉丝的微型/纳米创作者（micro-creators）。 数据显示，微型创作者展现出的互动转化率几乎是头部红人的三倍。Asmita 评价道：“They drive a lot of engagement because micro communities have very loyal fans, and they are on a certain topic.” 垂直细分社群内的拥趸忠诚度极高，小体量的创作者同样能撬动极为强劲的实际影响力。此外，随着创意制作工具门槛的大幅降低，创意生产本身也将迎来普及化。 谈及美妆行业本质的进化，Asmita 认同美妆长期以来建立在人们追求更佳自我呈现的“向往感”（aspiration）之上，但这种向往感正随着技术与社交网络经历“民主化”（democratization）： - 过去，兰蔻（Lancôme）或伊夫·圣罗兰美妆（YSL Beauty）等高端品牌以权威姿态单向灌输审美标准与品牌愿景； - 如今，成千上万乃至数以百万计的普通创作者在线分享产品成分、功效测评与使用手法，消费者由此获得更深入的认知与自主选择权，在真实共鸣中找到了契合自身需求的平民化审美方案。在提供前沿科技、护肤血统与长寿健康的交织下，品牌得以在全渠道中建立起贯穿消费者终生的长久忠诚。 ### [12:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=727s) 沉浸式体验、AR 虚拟试妆与端到端肌肤诊断生态 主持人 Raja Rajamannar 提出，许多行业都在努力让消费者在购买前获得尽可能逼真的产品体验，就像买车前要去试驾一样，他询问欧莱雅是如何通过沉浸式技术让消费者提前感知美妆效果的。欧莱雅首席数字与营销官 Asmita Dubey 回应道，答案正是增强现实（AR）。美妆与数字技术天然契合，早在推出巴黎欧莱雅的 Makeup Genius 移动应用程序时，用户就可以仅凭一部手机实现虚拟试妆。为了在全集团范围内实现技术跃升，欧莱雅于 2018 年收购了在美妆 AR 和虚拟试妆领域处于领先地位的 Modiface。这项收购帮助欧莱雅将虚拟试妆技术大规模推广到了旗下所有品牌、所有线上平台以及零售合作伙伴的渠道中。 随后，随着图像识别与深度图像识别技术的兴起，欧莱雅开始利用皮肤科医生标注和审阅过的成千上万张真实皮肤图像，进行高精度的深度肌肤诊断。Asmita Dubey 指出，欧莱雅致力于将产品、智能硬件与数字化服务结合，为消费者提供全流程的端到端解决方案。在产品创新层面，兰蔻（Lancôme）依托长寿科学（longevity science）研发出 Lancôme Absolue Longevity 等尖端护肤品，旨在解读皮肤年龄标记并消除肉眼可见的老化痕迹；在硬件与服务层面，兰蔻在全球专柜部署了名为 Skin Screen 的专业测肤仪，消费者只需将面部放入仪器中，通过图像技术即可清晰了解自身肌肤状况与护肤需求。 不仅在线下，欧莱雅还将完全相同的诊断能力搬到了云端。消费者足不出户，只要访问兰蔻官方网站使用 eSkin Screen 功能，上传单张或多角度照片，系统就会结合后台庞大的科学数据与图像识别模型，深度分析皮肤指标并指导日常护理。Raja Rajamannar 对此点评称，这恰好切中了其提出的“量子营销”（Quantum Marketing）两大核心法则：一是打造沉浸式、多感官的体验闭环；二是挖掘并满足潜在需求——因为消费者往往并不真正清楚自己的深层痛点，当企业利用科研与数据帮消费者认知自我时，这就构成了不可替代的差异化壁垒。Asmita Dubey 补充证实：“70% of the consumers tell us that they're they just get lost. There are too many products on the shelf, so they don't know which one is right for them.”（70% 的消费者告诉我们，他们经常感到迷茫。货架上的产品实在太多了，他们根本不知道哪一款才真正适合自己。） ```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: 欧莱雅端到端美妆科技服务架构 accDescr: 展示从底层科研数据到线上线下全渠道诊断，再到个性化产品方案的端到端美妆科技流程 subgraph DataScience["科研与数据基础"] DS1["长寿科学与皮肤学标记"] DS2["皮肤科医生标注海量影像数据"] end subgraph ServiceEngine["多渠道科技服务引擎"] direction TB Modiface["Modiface AR 虚拟试妆系统"] SkinDiag["图像识别深度肌肤诊断算法"] end subgraph Touchpoints["双线触点生态"] Offline["线下专柜：Skin Screen 专业测肤仪"] Online["线上官网：eSkin Screen 照片诊断"] end subgraph Solutions["个性化解决方案"] Out1["精准选品推荐与功效护肤"] Out2["沉浸式试妆与多感官交互"] end DataScience --> ServiceEngine ServiceEngine --> Touchpoints Touchpoints --> Solutions ``` ### [15:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=934s) 创新的三支柱：数学理性与魔法感性的平衡 Raja Rajamannar 谈到，Asmita Dubey 曾提出过一句名言——“营销是数学与魔法的结合”（marketing is a combination of math and magic）。他追问，数据和技术显然解决的是属于左脑的“数学”，那么欧莱雅是如何释放属于右脑的“魔法”的？Asmita Dubey 阐述道，欧莱雅内部拥有三根创新的支柱，分别是科学、技术与创意。对欧莱雅而言，美妆品类自带“多巴胺效应”，它关乎产品渴望的塑造、自我表达以及自信心的建立，因此这三项要素自始至终深植于公司的基因之中。 Asmita Dubey 强调，做品牌建设不仅要在技术更迭的节奏中前进，更必须跟上文化演变的步伐：“We think brand building today is both about moving at the speed of culture and at the pace of technology today, and which is where I would say that overall we keep that balance.”（我们认为，当下的品牌建设既要紧跟文化演进的速度，又要跟上科技发展的步伐，这也是我们在整体上保持平衡的地方。）她表示，无论是负责前端产品研发与品牌塑造的上游团队，还是负责下游运营营销的团队，欧莱雅全员都是富有创造力的营销人，而 AI 的引入则是在这一基础上进一步增强（augment）创意的维度，而不是取代人的灵感。 - **欧莱雅创新三要素**：科学（Science）、技术（Technology）与创意（Creativity），三者并重、协同运转。 - **美妆的核心情感价值**：驱动多巴胺分泌、激发对美好的渴望、赋能消费者的自我表达与自信心。 - **全链路创意人才**：从上游的研发、配方与品牌构思，到下游的全球化运营与渠道营销，均由创意主导。 ### [17:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=1024s) 拒绝虚假生成：在 AI 时代守住真实性与成为“终极答案层” 谈及生成式 AI，Raja Rajamannar 指出，当前许多品牌尝试完全用 AI 来生成广告大片、促销素材乃至虚拟角色，但市场反馈褒贬不一；消费者日益渴望真实、有温度的内容，一旦察觉内容完全由机器驱动，立刻会产生信任危机与公信力缺口，他询问欧莱雅如何应对这一挑战。Asmita Dubey 将应对策略清晰地划分为两部分：其一是创意生产的底线，其二是如何构建绝对的真实性与权威性。 在视觉与内容创作上，欧莱雅在很早期就制定了明确红线：由于美妆具有高度的个人化与社交属性，公司坚决不使用 AI 生成的逼真面部、身材、头发或皮肤来夸大修饰外部宣传中的产品功效，因为“真正使用洗发水的是活生生的人”。AI 真正大显身手的地方在于内容生产的自动化与背景场景的生成，这极大地解放了传统营销与广告制作中耗费在繁重手动劳作上的大量时间与精力。 随后，Asmita Dubey 提出了一个更为深刻的行业洞察：随着大型语言模型（LLM）正成为全球数十亿人探索与发现美妆知识的第一道大门，用户每天都在与 AI 对话和提问，美妆品牌必须思考如何进入由 AI 驱动的“答案层”（answer layer）。欧莱雅的目标是成为美妆领域最权威的真相来源：“And at L'Oréal, we want to be the the most definitive source of beauty truth.”（在欧莱雅，我们渴望成为美妆领域最权威的真理之源。）她解释说，欧莱雅拥有庞大的专业壁垒——全球 28 万名医疗卫生专业人士沉淀的数十亿个科学数据点，以及包括仅去年就发表的 50 篇在内的累计 850 篇权威科学出版物。这些深厚积淀赋予了欧莱雅强大的数字化权威印记（digital footprint），确保当生成式模型为全球用户提供护肤建议与答案时，欧莱雅能够凭借过硬的科学事实与品牌底蕴，成为那个最真实、最不可撼动的核心答案。 对谈尾声总结道，面对美妆探索日益个性化、高互动性和碎片化的全新时代，欧莱雅正将百年品牌积淀与前沿科技、创作者洞察深度融合；而未来百年真正的考验，将在于欧莱雅如何将这套全链路的科技与创意能力，成功复制并贯穿至旗下整个庞大的品牌矩阵之中。 ## Notable quotes > [15:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0&t=934s) We think brand building today is both about moving at the speed of culture and at the pace of technology today, and which is where I would say that overall we keep that balance. — Asmita Dubey ## Mentioned L'Oréal, Raja Rajamannar, Asmita Dubey, Quantum Marketing, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, OpenAI, Maybelline, Miley Cyrus, CeraVe, Kevin Durant, Lancôme, YSL Beauty, Modiface, Makeup Genius, Lancôme Absolue Longevity, Skin Screen, eSkin Screen ## Video description The beauty industry has entered an age of dramatic transformation thanks to the creator economy and artificial intelligence-powered personalization. In this episode, Raja Rajamannar sits down with L'Oréal's Asmita Dubey, global chief digital and marketing officer, to unpack how the century-old brand is trying to capitalize on the influencer economy and beauty technology. -------- Like this video? Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/Bloomberg?sub_confirmation=1 Get unlimited access to Bloomberg.com for just $1.99 your first month: https://www.bloomberg.com/subscriptions?in_source=YoutubeOriginals Bloomberg Originals offers bold takes for curious minds on today’s biggest topics. Hosted by experts covering stories you haven’t seen and viewpoints you haven’t heard, you’ll discover cinematic, data-led shows that investigate the intersection of business and culture. Exploring every angle of climate change, technology, finance, sports and beyond, Bloomberg Originals is business as you’ve never seen it. Subscribe for business news, but not as you've known it: exclusive interviews, fascinating profiles, data-driven analysis, and the latest in tech innovation from around the world. Visit our partner channel Bloomberg News for global news and insight in an instant. [Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw606P4B5V0)

Source quotes

[15:34] Asmita Dubey: We think brand building today is both about moving at the speed of culture and at the pace of technology today, and which is where I would say that overall we keep that balance.

Source quotes

[3:26] Asmita Dubey: Beauty is an essential human need, and it has been like that across all time periods in humanity, across all cultures. [17:04] Asmita Dubey: Billions of consumers are chatting and asking questions, which means we need to be in the answer layer.

Original transcript

[0:00] The beauty industry has entered an age of dramatic [0:04] transformation. The creator economy and AI-powered [0:08] personalization are reshaping the sector, forcing major [0:13] players like L'Oréal to adapt to shifting consumer interests or [0:18] risk being left behind. [0:20] Beauty is an essential human need, and it has been like that [0:25] across all time periods in humanity, across all cultures. [0:29] It is deeply social, but also deeply personal. [0:33] So the question becomes: When faced with this type of sea [0:37] change, can a century-old brand evolve to maintain its seat at [0:41] the makeup table. Marketing used to be simple: you made a [0:48] product, you bought attention, and you controlled the message. [0:52] That world is over. Data sciences, behavioral economics, [0:57] and technologies like artificial intelligence are all changing [1:01] the very nature of marketing. Now brands need to respond to [1:04] consumers in real time because every moment is an opportunity. [1:10] I'm Raja Rajamannar, lifelong student of marketing and [1:13] best-selling author. I'm going inside these companies to [1:16] explore the systems, the people, and the insights driving this [1:19] transformation. This is quantum marketing. In this episode, I [1:31] sit with Asmita Dubey of L'Oréal Group, a recognized and [1:35] award-winning industry leader. So, to dive in straight as a [1:41] fellow marketer and as a fellow CMO, I have seen the kind of [1:45] work that you have done. Just talk a little bit about what [1:48] brought you to where you are today. [1:50] I worked in advertising and media and digital, and now in [1:53] beauty in L'Oréal. I learned that media that works is about [1:58] the consumer journey and the touch points. I think at the core [2:01] of it, marketing remains about fulfilling a consumer need, you [2:05] know, and fulfilling that consumer need to help them [2:09] choose one product over another, to help them choose one brand [2:12] over another, and to do it with relevance and differentiation [2:17] and emotional proximity. I feel, you know, more and more that if [2:22] I were to sum up the challenges of the last decade of marketing [2:27] in one word, you know the word that I would use is [2:31] fragmentation, because if you look at the consumer journey, [2:35] the consumer journey has been fragmenting over the decade into [2:39] offline and online, into upper funnel and lower funnel into so [2:43] many platforms with so many different formats that they keep [2:47] coming up with, and then you look at the marketer's journey, [2:51] and the marketer's journey is also fragmenting. You know we [2:53] have expertise of product marketing, brand marketing, [2:57] content marketing, social marketing, influencer marketing, [3:01] data-driven marketing, media marketing, e-commerce marketing, [3:05] so there has been a level of fragmentation, which I think has [3:10] its plus and minus, and it's kind of lost a bit of that [3:14] overall understanding, you know. And I'm hoping that as AI opens [3:18] a new chapter in marketing, what can AI do? Can it help, like [3:23] reduce that fragmentation? Let's see. [3:26] So just like you have got a wonderful three decades of [3:30] experience, L'Oréal as a company has done the same in its own [3:35] life journey. Yes, I believe it is about 115 years old. [3:38] 115 year old. 115 [3:40] year old. So more than a century. [3:42] Oh yes, [3:43] Because I'm worth it. [3:44] It's because I'm worth it. That century is like eternity in [3:47] terms of consumers, how they have changed, how their thinking [3:51] has evolved. How does a legacy brand like L'Oréal maintain its [3:55] relevance and maintain its bond with the consumers through all [4:01] these years and still keep getting bigger and better and [4:05] better? [4:06] So you know, beauty is an essential human need, and it has [4:11] been like that across all time periods in humanity, across all [4:15] cultures. It is deeply social, but also deeply personal. You [4:21] know, it's about desires. Beauty is always about [4:24] self-affirmation. It is about driving confidence. It is about [4:28] reflecting the societal norms. And therefore, now come. Let me [4:31] come to your question of the beauty standards. When we talk [4:34] about societal norms and where the society is, it can be both [4:37] demographics and attitudes. You know. So if you look at [4:41] demographics first, you know, in today's world, we know that by [4:45] 2040, 43% of the world will have curly or coily hair. So, when [4:50] 43% of the world has curly or coily hair, we know what kind of [4:54] hair routines are needed with oil and scat treatment, etc. [4:57] etc. That will change the beauty. By 2050, I think one out [5:02] of six people will be more than 65 year. That will decide what [5:07] innovation on longevity science is needed to have the skin [5:11] health there for those. You know, so beauty standards get [5:15] affected by the societal norm and the demographics of the [5:18] society, but also the attitudes. People can say that what should [5:22] be the hair length is it short hair is it long hair and that [5:25] would start defining what all products are being used more or [5:28] less around it or it could be about the position of women in [5:32] the society [5:32] position of women in the society and that position of women in [5:35] the society in different part of the world has been shifting for [5:38] the last decades. [5:40] So when you're looking at this changing demographics, how are [5:44] you engaging them? [5:45] I feel beauty is very dynamic as a category. You know, it's true [5:50] that marketing has been shifting from brand say to influencers [5:54] say to people say peer to peer even more than before, and [5:59] social media and the new platforms are playing a huge [6:03] role in it. YouTube reached 1 billion consumers in 2013. A lot [6:07] of how-to videos and all came in. Instagram reached 1 billion [6:11] consumers in 2018. TikTok reached 1 billion consumers in [6:16] 2021. Then e-commerce and technologies like virtual try-on [6:20] and image recognition came in, which changed how we were using [6:24] beauty in technology. Then the beauty, you know, expression [6:28] started shifting to short videos and reels and live streams. And [6:32] 2026 is the year where OpenAI reaches 1 billion consumers, and [6:37] it is once again shifting the way consumers are using and you [6:42] know how we are thinking about how we should appear in the [6:45] answer layer. So when that kind of volume comes, it is, it is [6:50] impacting how we engage with our consumers. There, we have [6:53] started to think of our brand and the communication, starting [6:56] with social, which is where a lot of the young people are [6:59] also. You know the jingle, Maybe it's Maybelline? Now Maybe it's [7:04] Maybelline is one of the top few jingles on social media from [7:08] brands. You know, and that conversation is pretty live, but [7:12] the brand Maybelline was not always part of it. You know, so [7:16] what we did was we went to the creators, and we said, you know, [7:19] why don't you start making this conversation very, very alive [7:23] and very associated with the brand Maybelline because it is [7:25] about Maybe it's Maybelline. Not only that, we had a new [7:29] ambassador, the pop icon Miley Cyrus. [7:32] Okay. [7:32] And we told her, can you do redo this jingle? [7:36] I am so honored to be a part of Maybelline. [7:45] So the insight is from social. So the insight is coming. We see [7:49] this is one of the top used phrases when it comes to ad [7:53] jingles, and then it ends up being successful in YouTube [7:56] music, which is social to social, and in between is the [8:00] all the authenticity of the brand Maybelline. Take the [8:02] example of CeraVe. Here, what happened is we want to expand [8:06] the audiences, the consumers for CeraVe. Let's take the market [8:10] U.S. And Kevin Durant is the basketball player, and in social [8:15] media, KD, you know, his fans call him. He has been trolled [8:19] for years, you know, and he has been trolled for this that he [8:22] has very dry legs. [8:24] Every time I forgot to put lotion on my ankles, I think [8:27] about that one photo of Kevin Durant's ashy ankles. I had 35 [8:30] on 12 shots that night. That is way more important than my ashy [8:33] ankles. [8:34] And there's a lot of conversation which is alive on [8:36] that for many many years. We picked up on that, and then as a [8:40] brand, decided to make, crown him as the new face of legs. You [8:44] know, and when new faces of legs. And this got us a lot of [9:05] growth in sales. [9:07] Amazing. But the beauty industry's growth isn't reliant [9:12] on famous athletes or superstars promoting products. The [9:16] influencer economy is booming and surpassed 33 billion dollars [9:21] last year. [9:21] This is the new big deal mascara from L'Oréal Paris. The [9:24] sustained rise of social media has given way to a new tier of [9:29] micro influencers who generate engagement rates nearly triple [9:34] those of macro influencers. You mentioned that you deal with [9:39] nearly half a million creators. What have these creators taught [9:43] the company that traditional market research did not? [9:47] There's a pyramid of creators. You know, they can be very large [9:51] one with 1 million following, and there can be micro-creators [9:55] who have 10,000 followers or even more than 1000 followers. [10:00] So you realize that influence can be both big and small, and [10:04] impact can come with small influence or big influence. You [10:08] know, and that's what we learn and we see around us. [10:11] So when you look at micro communities, [10:14] Yeah. [10:14] what kind of role these influencers play there? [10:18] They they drive a lot of engagement because micro [10:21] communities have very loyal fans, and they are on a certain [10:24] topic. And what I also feel is the same might start coming to [10:28] creative production, because creative production will get [10:31] democratized, and you will have creators everywhere, and [10:35] wonderful creators that we can access. [10:37] When I look at the entire beauty industry till now, it is [10:42] essentially about an aspiration. You have a dream. You want to [10:46] look your best. You want to present your best, and that's [10:48] what you're trying to realize, right? [10:49] Yes. There is a democratization of beauty, and that [10:52] democratization of beauty really helps us because people know a [10:57] lot more about products, about ingredients, about reviews about [11:02] how to use them, and therefore they use them more. Aspiration [11:05] is moving from an aspiration which was only brand say, that a [11:09] brand Lancome or a brand Yves Saint Laurent Beauty was talking to [11:13] you and telling you what are the beauty standards, and therefore [11:16] what is the aspiration, and I'm linking the two topics to an [11:19] influencer and creator say, where hundreds and 1000s, almost [11:24] millions of people are telling you that this is how you could [11:27] look. This is what matches. You can resonate with me better. [11:31] One generational constant across the beauty sector is the desire [11:36] to avoid any sign of aging. In addition to hair coloring or [11:40] anti-aging serums, consumers want products backed by science, [11:45] especially when these products fit into your broader focus on [11:49] wellness. By offering new and innovative technologies in [11:53] stores, online, and through apps, the goal is to create [11:58] lifelong consumer behaviors and deepen brand loyalty. Most of [12:03] the categories they try to [12:06] give [12:07] consumers as realistic an experience about their product [12:12] before they sell it. Like when you're taking a car, you're [12:15] going to test driving and things like that. Are you guys doing [12:18] anything to give those immersive experiences to consumers? [12:20] Yes, with augmented reality. [12:23] This is Makeup Genius from L'Oréal Paris, the first mobile [12:27] app to let you try on makeup using nothing but your phone. [12:31] All of these technologies bring in something to beauty because [12:33] beauty and digital have such a good match. So back in 2018, we [12:38] L'Oreal actually acquired a company called Modiface, and [12:41] Modiface was kind of leading in this beauty augmented reality [12:45] and virtual try-on technology, and that helped us to scale [12:50] virtual try-ons to all our brands, all our platforms, [12:54] including retailers. Not only that, when image recognition [12:57] technology came, we started using the image recognition and [13:01] deep image recognition with 1000s and 1000s of skin images, [13:05] which are you know seen by the dermatologists and annotated by [13:09] the dermatologist, and you use that for skin diagnosis at a [13:12] very deep level. So we use technology to start bringing [13:17] online services to our consumers, not just online but [13:20] also offline. What we are doing with technology and with [13:24] products and devices and services is bring an end-to-end [13:28] solution. So it's on one hand we have innovation on longevity [13:32] science. So Lancome brought a product like Lancome Absolute [13:37] Longevity MD. So this is [13:38] a skincare product. [13:39] It's a long yes, it's a skincare product which understands the [13:43] age markers, and then also helps us to remove the visible signs [13:49] of the that you know it's about longevity. You know, so it's a [13:53] very very nice innovation. That is one part of it. That is [13:56] product innovation. Then you start coming to devices where on [14:00] the Lancome counters around the world, we have a machine which [14:03] is a skin screen, and you put your face into the skin screen [14:07] and use image technology. And with the image technology, you [14:10] can see what your skin is like, and therefore, what does your [14:13] skin need? You know, and not only offline, but we have the [14:17] same service online. You can do on the Lancome website with the [14:20] eSkin screen. [14:21] So if I am sitting at home, [14:23] Yes. [14:23] I can go onto Lancome website, [14:25] Yes. [14:26] and then I can get my skin analyzed. You [14:28] can do a skin diagnosis online. So all you have to do is take a [14:31] picture, and more than one picture. Sometimes it asks for [14:34] many pictures. It uses image recognition. It uses all the [14:38] signs and the data behind, and then it tells you what is your [14:42] skin like, and what are some of the signs that you should be [14:45] looking at. [14:46] You touch upon two very important tenets of Quantum [14:49] Marketing here. [14:49] Yeah. [14:50] See, the first thing is it's all about immersive, multi-sensory [14:54] experiences. This is literally embodying all that. Exactly. The [14:58] second thing you mentioned, it's about understanding. [15:00] Understanding the needs and fulfilling the needs, and many [15:02] times the consumers don't understand the need themselves. [15:06] Yeah, and if you using your science and technology and all [15:10] the background that you have, developed, as a company that is, [15:14] and you are deploying it to make the consumer understand what [15:17] their need is, that's a very very important absolutely [15:22] differentiator. [15:23] Exactly, 70% of the consumers tell us that they're they just [15:29] get lost. There are too many products on the shelf, so they [15:32] don't know which one is right for them. [15:34] So you have famously said that marketing is a combination of [15:38] math and magic. [15:39] Absolutely. [15:40] Now, data, technology, all those really address the left side of [15:44] the brain with mathematics and everything else that goes with [15:47] it. How are you unleashing the right brain, which is all about [15:51] the magic? [15:52] How we are unleashing the right brain? I think we have three [15:57] pillars of innovation in our company: science, technology, [16:02] and creativity. [16:03] Right. [16:04] Yeah, and it has always been like that. Beauty as a category, [16:07] it's about dopamine effect. It's about creating desire for [16:11] products. It's about self confidence, self expression. So [16:15] this focus on science, technology, and creativity is in [16:20] the DNA of our company, you know, and and we love brands, we [16:24] love brand building. We think brand building today is both [16:27] about moving at the speed of culture and at the pace of [16:30] technology today, and which is where I would say that overall [16:35] we keep that balance. We want to make sure that we are using all [16:39] three levers equally well for ourselves as a company. AI [16:42] brings another level of creativity, and we can talk [16:44] about AI and what it does to augment creativity. But we we [16:48] are a company of marketers and very very creative marketers [16:53] upstream from the ones who do product development and brand to [16:57] downstream on operational marketing. So that's something I [17:01] feel like it's in our DNA. [17:04] So there have been brands which attempted to produce the end [17:11] output using AI, whether it is an advertisement campaign or [17:14] it's a promotion or it's creating some characters, etc. [17:18] And the results have been mixed. The reason being that consumers [17:22] are demanding authentic content, and if they feel that this is [17:26] not created by human beings, but it's something which is [17:28] machine-driven or AI-driven, immediately there is a [17:31] credibility gap and there is a trust issue. From your [17:34] perspective, how is L'Oréal tackling that? [17:37] I would break this into two parts. You know, the first part [17:41] is the whole creative production and all, and what we are doing [17:45] with it. And then I will talk to you about authenticity, where it [17:49] comes from, how to be the most credible source of truth. First [17:52] of all, early on, we decided that beauty, like I said, is [17:57] very personal and very social, and we are not going to use [18:02] AI-generated, lifelike face, body, hair, or skin to enhance [18:07] the product benefits in our external communication because [18:10] real people use a shampoo. Then, on the other side, you can use [18:14] it a lot for the backgrounds. You know, there is so much [18:16] content that is needed in the world today, and there is so [18:19] much time, energy, manual labor-that the whole marketing [18:23] and advertising industry is putting into content production, [18:28] and that content production is automating. [18:31] Yeah. [18:31] Technology is coming to it, and and you know whether we call it [18:35] AI or we can call it something else, but that automation is [18:38] here. And then there is another thing: if LLMs are becoming the [18:42] front door to beauty discovery, then what what do we do anyway? [18:46] Billions of consumers are chatting and asking questions, [18:49] which means we need to be in the answer layer. And at L'Oréal, we [18:54] want to be the the most definitive source of beauty [18:57] truth. We are talking about authenticity. So I'm saying, how [19:00] do you become the most definitive source of beauty [19:03] truth? You you have to be salient in that answer layer, [19:07] and how do you become salient in the answer layer? We have got [19:10] 280,000 healthcare professionals, which means there [19:14] are billions of data points already there. We've got 850 [19:18] publications. Just last year, there were 50 publications, so [19:23] all that brings in a digital footprint, which has a lot of [19:27] authority already there. So that authenticity comes from the work [19:32] that we do, what the brand stands for, what it already has. [19:36] But our endeavor is to make sure that we are salient in the [19:40] answer layer, because we bring that authenticity and we bring [19:43] the right answer into it. [19:45] This has been a wonderful conversation. [19:47] A pleasure. [19:48] L'Oréal is combining more than a century of brand building with [19:53] tech and creator-led insight to remain relevant as beauty [19:57] discovery becomes more personalized. Participatory and [20:01] fragmented. How L'Oréal chooses to translate this across their [20:06] entire portfolio of brands will be the real challenge for the [20:11] next [20:17] 100 years.