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L’Oréal’s chief executive, Nicolas Hieronimus, believes the 110-year-old beauty company is ready for the future.
In a conversation with Marie-Joseé Kravis, the chair of the Museum of Modern Art, at the Economic Club of New York on Mar. 1, Hieronimus discussed the company’s investments in technology and sustainability, in particular its plans with artificial intelligence. Newer iterations of the complex technology, including generative AI platform ChatGPT, is sparking interest across industries. But for the last few years, AI has enhanced L’Oréal’s productivity and creativity, particularly among its research team, which has used it to improve tasks like reformulating hair-colour products, Hieronimus said.
L’Oréal already made small waves in the metaverse in November 2022 when it partnered with tech company Ready Player Me, enabling avatars to be accessorised with makeup and hairstyles from Maybelline and L’Oréal Professional.
“The new technologies are really enhancing the human capacity to innovate. And that’s great for L’Oréal because we’ve been investing in this for a couple of years now,” Hieronimus said.
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Still, Hieronimus admits recruiting tech talent such as data scientists to help further innovation has been challenging because these roles are typically in high demand across industries. But ongoing layoffs at software firms leave a window of opportunity for L’Oréal.
“Many of the tech companies are freeing some of their tech talents, so we probably will have more available to grow our business,” he said. “L’Oréal is a great company for tech talents because … they’re not working on one [siloed] project.”
L’Oréal is also doubling down on its focus on sustainability. The company aims to increase its use of recycled plastics, which currently account for more than half of its PET plastics packaging. It has also been transforming its product formulas to move further away from petrochemicals toward more “biotech” chemicals that combine lab-grown and natural ingredients and help preserve natural resources.
“We still have a lot to do,” Hieronimus said. “But we have resources and we have a company … that’s entirely focused on this.”
