Previously worked at Unilever and has 22 years of experience at Procter & Gamble.
Source | Poly beauty
Author | Mu Mu
Unilever, which has frequent changes in senior management, has finally decided on the new president of the high-end beauty business unit.
Yesterday (October 4), Jumei learned from WWD that after the announcement of the departure of veteran Vasiliki Petrou, after two months, Unilever appointed Mary Carmen Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson as the new CEO of Unilever Prestige (that is, Unilever's high-end beauty business unit), effective from November 1, 2024.
The veteran who was a Procter & Gamble executive entered the palace Unilever!
Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson is a seasoned beauty executive with more than two decades of experience working in beauty and luxury, including 22 years at P&G, according to WWD, Cosmestics Business and The Industry Beauty.
Mary Carmen Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson，图片源自the industry beauty
Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson's career joins Unilever from serving as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Business Units at jeweller Pandora since October 2022.
It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson has been at Unilever, having served as Unilever's Global Brand Leader from January 2020 to October 2022, where she was responsible for managing the P&L of the personal care brands Axe and Lynx. During her tenure, Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson restored Axe/Lynx's personal care business to double-digit profitable growth.
Prior to that, Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson spent 22 years working with beauty giant Procter & Gamble in a variety of roles, including Global Marketing Director and Director of Innovation for Hugo Boss Fragrances, and Global Skincare and North American Brand Manager for Olay.
Unilever said, "Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson, with a proven track record of building both start-up and established brands, is the right person to lead Unilever's premium brands into the next phase of their journey. ”
"I've spent most of my career working in the beauty space and I'm excited to be back at Unilever and lead the team and these brands into the next chapter of development." Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson posted on LinkedIn.
As the former CEO, Vasiliki Petrou's contribution to Unilever's premium beauty business can be seen in its acquisitions and performance in recent years.
Since the inception of Unilever's premium beauty division, the division led by Vasiliki Petrou has embarked on a series of acquisitions. After 10 years of development, the division now has a portfolio of 10 brands, covering beauty, skincare and haircare.
Judging from the financial report data, Unilever's high-end beauty business unit has achieved sales-led growth for 13 consecutive quarters, with a turnover of 1.4 billion euros (about 10.915 billion yuan) in 2023. And, in December 2021, Unilever's official website released a news that the group's high-end beauty business unit is the fastest-growing division, with a turnover of 700 million euros (about 5.05 billion yuan) in 2020, and a double-digit performance growth in 2021.
At a time when the beauty industry has not yet fully recovered and is involuted, it may not be easy for Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson to continue the current growth trend of Unilever's premium beauty division.
International beauty companies set off a tide of "executive blood change", where is the wind blowing?
In addition to this personnel change, Unilever's senior management has changed frequently since the second half of last year. These include the Group Leader, Chief Financial Officer, President of Home Care, General Manager of Beauty & Wellness China, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, Chief Brand Officer and Board of Directors.
From the perspective of the entire international beauty group, the international beauty companies that have undergone a high-level reshuffle are not only Unilever, but also groups such as Coty, L'Oreal, and Estee Lauder are also accelerating the "blood change" of personnel, which involves various types of job changes such as "top leaders" in global and key regions, important business leaders, and brand leaders.
It is found that since the beginning of this year, the high-level changes of international beauty companies have shown the following two major characteristics:
1. The Chinese market is still a "must fight"
For international beauty companies, the importance of the Chinese market is self-evident, as can be seen in the personnel changes related to the Chinese market by each group.
For example, in August this year, Unilever appointed Chen Ge, a former executive of FrieslandCampina, as president of China and general manager of Beauty & Wellness China, reporting directly to Priya Nair, global president of Unilever Beauty & Health.
In April this year, L'Oréal North Asia President and CEO of L'Oréal China, Mr. Bo Wanshan, and L'Oréal China's Deputy CEO and General Manager of the Luxury Products Division, Mr. Ma Xiaoyu, made their debut as new management teams.
In addition to L'Oréal, Kefu, CK Hutchison Industrial, COSMAX and L'Occitane have also carried out relevant job renovations for the Chinese market, which shows the importance of the Chinese market to beauty companies.
Judging from the financial report, behind the personnel "war" launched by international beauty companies against China, it may be inseparable from the "wall" of various companies in the Chinese market.
According to the financial report, L'Oréal's performance in the Chinese market has declined for the first time this year, and there has been another downward revision of performance expectations since 2015, and its CEO Ye Hongmu believes that the weakening of the growth ability of the Chinese beauty market is one of the reasons.
In addition to L'Oréal, Estee Lauder, Coty and other companies have also seen sales declines in China. In addition, Shiseido's sales in the Chinese market have been in a downturn for two years, with sales falling by 6.0% and 4.0% respectively from 2022 to 2023; In the first half of this year, Shiseido's sales in the Chinese market increased only slightly by 0.8%.
In the Chinese market, companies are also starting with senior executives who have worked in the Chinese market, and appointing localized talents for management and leadership is conducive to enterprises to better face the complex and ever-changing Chinese market. However, judging from the weak performance of various companies in the Chinese market, the situation faced by the new management is still grim, and it is not easy for companies to regain their "Chinese heart".
2. The travel retail and perfume tracks are subject to frequent changes
In addition to the layout of the Chinese market, it can also be found that there are frequent changes in the travel retail channel and the perfume track this year.
For example, in the travel retail channel, in January this year, Emmanuel Goulin was appointed President of L'Oréal's Travel Retail business. In April, L'Occitane announced the appointment of Green Yip as Managing Director, Asia Pacific Travel Retail, and in May, Evelyne LY-Wainer as Managing Director, Global Travel Retail. In June, LVMH appointed Catherine Newey as Group Managing Director of DFS; In July, L'Oréal appointed Jesús Abia as Managing Director, Travel Retail, Asia Pacific.
In terms of the perfume track, in June this year, Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou became the CEO of Fendi, a perfume brand owned by LVMH; In September, following the appointment of Emilie de Tramasure as General Manager of its Perfumery & Beauty division in March this year, Chanel appointed Simona Cattaneo as Chief Executive Officer of the division.
Behind the frequent personnel changes in the cosmetics industry, on the one hand, it not only reflects the trend of the times of transformation and upgrading, reform and innovation and accelerated talent flow in the beauty industry, but also highlights the coping strategies of beauty companies in the face of industry changes.
On the other hand, for beauty companies, many problems such as performance pressure and weak market cannot be solved by replacing a helmsman alone.
However, in the current economic downturn and uncertainty in the beauty industry, it is not a bad thing for companies to make drastic personnel changes and seek new variables from the inside out.
Returning to Unilever's senior management changes, the new president of the Advanced Beauty business unit may bring new ideas and innovative impetus to his premium beauty business to drive further growth, but different management styles may also present a series of challenges. How to ensure a smooth transition and strategic continuity to reduce the potential impact on the business is an urgent issue for Unilever's premium beauty business unit. Sources: WWD, Cosmestics Business, The Industry Beauty
Visual Design: Shino
WeChat typesetting: Mu Mu
Editor in charge: Lucky
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