The world’s largest manufacturer of cosmetics is getting a training makeover. A new platform at L’Oréal has positioned the company as a training trendsetter by putting sophisticated learning tools in the hands of their marketing team.
The GMAT for Marketers
Essentials of Digital Marketing–developed in collaboration with the learning specialists General Assembly–is an assessment based program. Students use the result of a comprehensive evaluation to choose from over seventy modules according to their individual needs and interests. L’Oréal hopes to up-skill the entire marketing department and introduce technical innovations company wide.
Deeper Than Makeup
Lubomira Rochet, L’Oréal’s Chief Digital Officer commented on the new program:
“Our mission is to place digital at the core of our business… This is why investing in our talent and constantly improving our digital capabilities is a strategic imperative for L’Oréal.”
Training is an investment in talent. L’Oréal’s initiative aims to get the most out of that investment. The platform not only gives the marketing team a chance to improve their skills, but it also provides a major incentive for joining that team in the first place. By making digital training the priority, the people at L’Oréal can better protect that investment against the depreciation that comes when old talent faces new trends.
The program looks promising in terms of the bottom line as well. L’Oréal’s marketing department employs around 7,000 people. In 2014, that department spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $870 million*. Digital courses make training that many people a bargain compared to classroom work. Further savings come into play as the modules are translated and implemented globally, something the French beauty brand has already done. Even the pilot program was offered in ten countries and in nearly as many languages.
Anti-Aginng, Pro-Future
The real advantage of L’Oréal’s strategy is hard to put a price on. That advantage is a position of leadership in the realms of training, marketing, and, of course, cosmetics. If others follow their lead, we can expect to see some trends developing on a larger scale:
The role of training experts will be in development rather than delivery.
Training will go digital. It already is, but this is just the beginning. Advanced training is only as good as its ability to keep up with new information. L’Oreal understands that even household names can get left behind in the digital age.
Training will no longer be one-size-fits all. In a world where we can use a L’Oréal app to mix our very own shades of makeup and hair color, why would we want to develop our unique talents in the same way as everyone else?
*source: AdWeek