How does a French company successfully market an American version of a Korean skin beautifier under a French brand name in Australia? Ask L’Oréal, which sells more than $30 billion worth of cosmetics, hair care products, skin care concoctions, and fragrances each year in 150 countries, making it the world’s biggest cosmetics marketer. L’Oréal’s success is based on a concept it calls “universalization.” It sells its brands globally by understanding how they appeal to varied cultural nuances of beauty in specific local markets. Then it finds the best balance between standardizing its brands for global impact and adapting them to meet local needs and desires.

L’Oréal is as global as a company gets. With offices spread throughout the world and more than half of its sales coming from markets outside Europe and North America, the company no longer has a clearly defined home market.

L’Oréal’s 34 brands originated in a half dozen or more different cultures, including French (L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Lancôme), American (Maybelline, Kiehl’s, SoftSheen-

Carson, Ralph Lauren, Urban Decay, Clarisonic, Redken), British (The Body Shop), Italian (Giorgio Armani), and Japanese (Shu Uemura). With these and many other wellknown brands, the master global marketer is the uncontested world leader in makeup, skin care, and hair coloring and second only to P&G in hair care.....................

Questions 1. Of the five global product and communications strategies, which best describes L’Oréal’s approach?
2. On a scale of one to five, to what degree does L’Oréal adapt its offering in each global market? Support your answer.
3. What are the disadvantages to L’Oréal’s global approach?

4. Which strategy does L’Oréal employ for entering a new market? How does the company benefit from this approach?
5. Will L’Oréal continue to succeed at such a high level? Why or why not?