L’Oréal Australia on being global champions for Best Practice
AiMCO Influencer Marketing in the Frame
Episode #4 Patrick Whitnall chats with Emma Williamson, Director of Customer Experience and Jenna Adamson, Legal Counsel L’Oréal Australia
In this week's episode Patrick Whitnall speaks to Emma Williamson and Jenna Adamson from L’Oréal Australia.
Emma Williamson is the Director of Customer Experience at L’Oréal Australia Australia and New Zealand. She is a veteran Consumer Affairs professional with 20 years experience, 11 with L’Oréal Australia in online and offline Customer Care environments with proven experience across retail, customer contact centres. In addition to the ever-changing social media space and overseeing CX for L’Oréal Australia, Emma is responsible for overseeing the management the group's 40 plus social media destinations across 20 brands and influencer marketing compliance at a corporate level. She is the guardian for a consistent voice with consumers across all touchpoints.
Jenna Adamson is the Legal Counsel for L’Oréal Australia and New Zealand partnering closely with the business across all brands. Jenna individually supports the leading CMO team for L’Oréal Australia, placing her at the forefront of the intersection between digital transformation and the law, particularly in the e-commerce and social media space. Jenna and her award-winning team have been recognised by the Financial Times as one of the top 10 legal teams globally, disrupting legal services. Jenna and Emma, welcome to AiMCO.
Patrick Whitnall
Look, the beauty and health and well-being category embraced influencers very early on. I'd love to hear from both of you. What has been the journey with influencers within your business today? And how have you seen it evolve?
Emma Williamson
L’Oréal Australia really started working with influencers back when it was really mostly mommy bloggers. And it was very sort of ad hoc, it wasn't particularly planned or sophisticated the way that we sort of work with influencers now. And it was sort of, you know, a trial process working with these types of media outlets, actually, we didn't even probably see them as a media outlet. And it was really more to try to drive trial of product, as opposed to having a proper influencer strategy that covered us as part of a media plan, either a product launch or a hero product re-support. So,it's definitely become a much more sophisticated structured way that we work with influencers now.
Jenna Adamson
In terms of my inside as well. I've been exposed to the social media and the influencing marketing world for the past two years. And I think, to be honest, it's been an incredibly exciting space in those particular two years because it's accelerated tenfold, particularly obviously with the different platforms. And I think now it's becoming the new way of marketing. It's a channel that we all rely upon now and perhaps one of the most leading. So, I think now it's a bit of an evolution that's taking place in a really short timeframe. It's actually exciting to see how we can make the most of that marketing.
Patrick Whitnall
And on that acceleration, Jenna with the hot topic of disclosure, how have you been leading that viewpoint or standpoint within your business at L’Oréal Australia?
Jenna Adamson
Absolutely. Look, that's been probably one of our main key focuses, when the codes come into place and beginning of this year, basically, it made quite an impact in terms of realising that there are rules in place, albeit self-regulatory bodies that are putting them in place, there are rules and we all need to be aware of them as a business. Emma and got together and wanted to make it a really key focus for us as a business, externally as well. And that alignment is why we partnered up with AiMCO, just to make sure that we're all on the same page. I think it's a matter of increasing awareness, not only as an advertiser, but also with, for instance, our talent and our influencers that we contract with and our agencies. And if we can get everyone on the same page and being aware of it, then at least we're going to end up achieving a greater compliance with those rules.
I think internally, what we've done is, for instance, we've been putting in place some training, which we do quite regularly to make sure that our marketing and comms team are all aware of what is expected of us as an advertiser. And not only that, we obviously, in terms of T's and C's for their influencers, we always do make sure that for instance, its compliance with law, because even though they're the rules, it's Australian Consumer Law. And that's what ends up being the big-ticket item for us, we want to lead best practice around that area.
Emma Williamson
I guess if I can also just add to that disclosure was something that L’Oréal Australia probably really spearheaded for the influencer space in Australia. And I know that sounds like a big claim, but we were really pushing for the use of disclosure hashtags since 2016. And that was really born from the fact that we could see that there was a shift in the way that consumers were seeing influencer content that was looking more like brand ads. There was definitely a lot of push back initially from, you know, talent as well as their agents because they sort of felt as though using hashtag add or hashtag collab undermined their authenticity. But the reality is if it's an ad, it's an ad you need to call it out. So, I guess where we've come to now in 2021, there is definitely much more acceptance, influencers that we work with whether there are small scale influencer or bigger influencer. They understand that's part of the way that we work. And it is a mandatory requirement.
Patrick Whitnall
And when it comes to L’Oréal Australia's ethics and your standpoint there, how did you juggle that between that and what is actually the law here?
Jenna Adamson
I think Emma's answer actually quite pinpointed it very well, there, I think she probably embraces a lot of the approach that L’Oréal Australia Australia does take. And that's more so in terms of they were doing this approach about disclosure and wanting to prioritise it and increase that transparency, even before their self-regulatory rules came into place. And even before for instance, the ACCC made it a focus that they were going to be starting to look at what was misleading influencers. And I think that's what for me has resonated and really closely aligns with the values for L’Oréal Australia, because despite from a legal perspective, that it might be legitimate, from an ethics perspective, if something doesn't sit right with the business, they're not going to go ahead and do it.
For me, that's something that is quite exceptional. And in that way, it's really leading because it is ethics from an ethical perspective. That's what takes priority. It's not necessarily only about the law. And even if it makes it legal, it doesn't mean it's ethical.
Patrick Whitnall
And, Jenna, when we spoke previously, you said that there was quite a lot to learn from the loyalty programmes, and I guess the transition that they've been on, what could we expect to take from them?
Jenna Adamson
Yes, absolutely. So, I think a couple of years ago, in 2019, the ACCC, which is effectively the Australian consumer watchdog, they took a stand in terms of the loyalty schemes, which had a major focus on customer loyalty schemes in Australia. And that was effectively to improve data practices and how they communicate with consumers. And obviously how consumers understand the programme. And that would also align with the issue of disclosure.
So that became a point. And then when the ACCC started to actually look into it, they effectively were given a pool of funds to focus on that. So, they were targeting loyalty schemes that were for instance, not in compliance with Australian Consumer Law. The ACCC has recently actually spoken out about influencers as well, I think we saw from some of the latest news in the mainstream media with for instance, some of the popular influencers in Australia at the moment, the ACCC actually took a really public stand, commented to say, ‘Look, if that disclosure isn't there, and if there isn't the transparency, then for instance, it can be misleading consumers.’ So now the ACCC is starting to pay attention to it, it's very likely that it's only just a matter of time before they're actually going to really target on it. And effectively, that's more than likely going to be the first case which is going to be setting an example.
That's exactly what happened with the loyalty schemes, and then actually went and some of the major airlines, the major advertising companies and everything like that. So, we're following the trends, we're trying to understand what's going to happen. And that's in terms of from a marketing perspective, what we can expect. But I mean, it's it is only a matter of time. So, we're just wanting to make sure that we're compliant far beyond that.
Patrick Whitnall
And Emma just thinking about influences within the CX piece, given that a lot of your sales go through retailers, and there is talk of influencers being the new retailers with the ability to drive e-commerce through these channels. How important are influencers within the customer experience for L’Oréal Australia?
Emma Williamson
Before, we really started using influencers to drive trial and get exposure to audiences that we hadn't really been able to connect to before. Outside of paying, you know, quite high fees for media, consumers now they really are seeing products, whether it's a new product launch, or as I mentioned before, re-support. They're actually seeing content on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok and all the other social platforms, more so than they're seeing it in a traditional media space. Because, you know, humans have sort of changed the way that they view TV, it's now become about you know, Netflix and subscription TV, as well as catch up so you're not really getting exposed to as many advertising options.
So, influencers are vastly important for us to be able to display products, talk about features and benefits, but also, you know, tap into that authenticity that influencers drive with their own audiences because you know, they're, you're obviously following someone because you like their ascetic, or you like what they stand for or what they talk about. So, you know, if they're talking about a new skincare product that's come out on the market, how much they love it, or what the features and benefits are, the audience is going to listen to that advice. Hence, you know, influencers, drive, you know, product purchase, you know, and there's a lot of interesting stuff that's coming through in the US at the moment around affiliate marketing, where in Instagram, you will be able to shop from the post. That means it is directly contributing to the bottom line, it's not an optional channel anymore, we need to use influencers to support our products and sell goods.
Patrick Whitnall
So, when we think about the posts and the content that they're creating for brands, disclosure is obviously a big thing. But let's think about something that's coming down in the future, we think about the filters that people can put on posts. Just recently, and I think the last couple of days, a new law in Norway is coming into force, which will mean social media influencers can't post modified photos without declaring what they've done. The rules will affect any paid posts across any social media platforms as a part of an effort to reduce body pressure amongst young people. And the government have said there that aims to help reduce the pressure of what idealising people look like in advertising. Do you see something like that coming into Australia? Is that something that you're already adopting and ensuring that influencers are already adhering to here?
Jenna Adamson
Absolutely. Norway’s change is probably more in a bid to address the body pressure in society, in terms of talking about how pictures and everything are edited, but what was key is that they made it a point because people weren't disclosing that the images were retouched, whether they be paid or unpaid. And I think even earlier this year, we had the UK actually ban social media from using unrealistic beauty filters in an advertisement. Basically, they use the reasoning, which was effectively because they shouldn't apply filters to photos that promote beauty products, if the filters are likely to exaggerate the effect the products are capable of achieving.
So, as we have seen with a lot of the social media space, we are following in the way that the UK previously have. So sooner or later, the same reasoning and the same principles, and the same rules or regulations are going to come into place in Australia. And realistically, we need to be addressing that now. And to be honest, it is in line with the whole transparency aspect as well, because we are wanting to be upfront with our consumers. So effectively, what we have in our T's and C's and our social media commitments is we just genuinely request that filters are not applied, if the filters are going to exaggerate the result of the beauty product. And I think that's a consistent line, it's just keeping it transparent, it's going to obviously cause a bit of potential contention in terms of what it actually equates to an exaggerated effect of a filter, of the results of a beauty filter. But it's only a matter of time for us to get on the page and have some local discussions about it.
Emma Williamson
Yeah, just to sort of, I guess add to that, you know, for a very long time, if you're running an ad in a magazine, and you're making product claims that needs to be something that's substantiated, needs to be something that you know, is backed up by facts. So, these kind of changes in the way that filters are used, or regulation around filters is really just adding another layer of that kind of claim compliance to a relatively unregulated space.
Patrick Whitnall
So, it sounds like we're going to have to be updating our Code of Practice very soon and importantly with you guys inputting into that, because it sounds like you're leading the way for that within your business and your category. Lastly, just for the two of you, you are actually the first brand to join AiMCO as a member. So first of all, thank you very much for being part of that and collaborating on the future of our industry and this membership. I just wondered what was really important and what appealed to you about AiMCO that you could talk to our members and I guess what, what you see is the growth of the category as we move forwards.
Jenna Adamson
I actually think you just touched on it in terms of even for instance, updating the Codes because of what's happening in the space, everything is changing, everything's evolving. And if we can be a part of that and leading the way in terms of what is best practice and what is a fairly uncertain and ever evolving area, then that's amazing. And we want to be a part of it.
We want to collaborate with yourselves, we want to collaborate with our talent, the influencers themselves, the agencies, everyone we want to all increase the awareness everyone get on the same page, figure out what the difficulties are, address them together. And then everything is basically in the best interest of the consumer at the end. We want to be doing things as a collective as opposed to having different views and different understandings of what the rules are. And then at least if we can work together and with AiMCO particularly, they have a voice in the industry. And that's amazing. And if we can strengthen that and support that, then we certainly want to be a part of it and help lead the way there.
Emma Williamson
Yeah, absolutely spot on. And you know, as a market leading beauty house, we also like to be in on the ground floor when something's new and exciting. To Jenna's point, it’s about collaborating with not just other brands, but also having conversations with content creators and influencers and agencies and really sort of trying to shape how, you know, we want to see the future of influencer marketing, from, you know, day one of the collective coming together.
Patrick Whitnall
Absolutely, it's great to have you both on board with the business. Something to finish off on is to celebrate and mention with that we just recently announced our Awards this year. So, for any of the members or anyone listening to this podcast, the AiMCO Awards have been announced with a number of multiple categories with our Platinum Partner Twitch. We're very excited, the call for entries is open, please go to the AiMCO website to enter, to establish which category is relevant for you. And we look forward to all of your entries, and anyone that's looking to be a judge as well. Please also add to that as well. And we look forward to celebrating the work and judging it in November time. Emma, Jenna, thank you very much for joining us today really insightful to understand the journey that L’Oréal Australia was going on, but also the future lens that you have on this category. Thank you very much for your work and joining us today.
If you're interested in finding out more about the Australian Influencer Marketing Council, please visit our website aimco.org.au where we're trying to build confidence and trust in influencer marketing. Thank you for listening