Brave Commerce

Hosted ByRachel Tipograph & Sarah Hofstetter

MikMak Founder & CEO Rachel Tipograph and Profitero’s President Sarah Hofstetter tackle what’s relevant in eCommerce today for the world’s biggest brands. Each episode they’ll share tips worth millions in sales, while interviewing the bravest marketers on how to navigate eCommerce’s latest consumer and retailer dynamics.

BRAVE COMMERCE | Episode Beiersdorf’s Axel Adida on Global Commerce Shifts

Brave Commerce
Brave Commerce
BRAVE COMMERCE | Episode Beiersdorf’s Axel Adida on Global Commerce Shifts
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On this episode of BRAVE COMMERCE, hosts Rachel Tipograph and Sarah Hofstetter sit down with Axel Adida, Chief Digital Officer at Beiersdorf, to discuss the evolving landscape of global commerce. Axel, who brings a wealth of experience from his time at L’Oréal and Sanofi, shares insights into the seismic shifts that are reshaping the beauty and health industries. From the enduring power of great brands to the explosion of digital media and the rise of data-driven marketing, Axel offers a comprehensive look at the forces driving today’s consumer behaviors.

Axel also dives into the unique dynamics of the Chinese market, explaining why it’s a bellwether for global trends. He explores how China’s digital ecosystem, particularly the dominance of platforms like WeChat and the boom in live streaming, sets the pace for innovation in commerce. The conversation touches on the challenges and opportunities of translating these trends to other regions, and the nuances that make certain strategies succeed in one market while struggling in another.

Finally, the episode delves into the concept of the “desire economy,” where luxury and beauty brands thrive by creating products that consumers don’t just want, but deeply desire. Axel discusses how today’s consumers engage in an endless loop of inspiration, exploration, and community interaction, reshaping the traditional marketing funnel. With influencers now playing a pivotal role in purchasing decisions, Axel offers a fresh perspective on how brands can navigate and leverage this new landscape to build lasting connections with their audience.

Key Takeaways:

  • Global Digital Transformation: Explore the fundamental shifts in digital media, data-driven marketing, and consumer engagement that are transforming the global commerce landscape.
  • China’s Influence: Understand the unique role of China as a trendsetter in digital commerce, and how its rapid innovation cycles provide valuable lessons for other markets.
  • The Desire Economy: Learn how luxury and beauty brands are capitalizing on the “desire economy,” where consumer motivation is driven by a deep connection to brand values and social validation.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Speaker 1: I think the one thing which is interesting in social

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Speaker 1: is 75% of the conversation in.

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Speaker 2: Beauty are around face. It’s quite obvious, actually.

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Speaker 1: When you say I have a skin routine, you show

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Speaker 1: it with your phone, but you seldom show your belly

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Speaker 1: or your legs. You really show your face. So very obviously,

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Speaker 1: you know, the telephone by design is a face mechanism.

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Speaker 1: It’s really the categories that exist there in a beautiful way.

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Speaker 1: Also a fun fact, when you talk influencers, You don’t

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Speaker 1: think of them as influencer, but the guy doing actually

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Speaker 1: your car review on YouTube is as much as influencer

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Speaker 1: as it gets.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to today’s episode of Brave Commerce.

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Speaker 4: I’m Rachel Typograph, the founder and CEO of Micmac.

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Speaker 3: I’m Sarah Hofstetter, president of Profitero.

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Speaker 4: And this is a show that talks about what’s relevant

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Speaker 4: in e-commerce for the world’s biggest brands. Sarah, it’s pretty

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Speaker 4: staggering when you look at the industry headlines, like how

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Speaker 4: much money retailers are pulling into creators or what we

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Speaker 4: formerly called influencers.

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Speaker 3: The lines are blurring so much more. The fact that

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Speaker 3: you’re seeing influencer content in retail marketing about specific brands,

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Speaker 3: it’s like it’s getting really messy. And it’s not like

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Speaker 3: it wasn’t messy before. But now it’s like, wait, who

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Speaker 3: paid for that? Where did that come from?

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Speaker 4: I was talking with someone who has a social commerce

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Speaker 4: role at a major retailer. And the person was alluding

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Speaker 4: to me that every week, the organization is giving them

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Speaker 4: more money to just pummel into influencer marketing. And they’re

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Speaker 4: actually seeing a 5x return.

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Speaker 3: A very good return is.

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Speaker 3: Wow, they’re really putting a lot of money into this

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Speaker 3: and they’re seeing the effect that influencers have on retailer decisioning.

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Speaker 3: On the flip side, it’s like, wait, what took this long?

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Speaker 3: I mean, retail has been transforming for the past five years.

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Speaker 3: Why wouldn’t they be more accelerated in involving influencers in

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Speaker 3: the decision-making process of where and how to shop, especially

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Speaker 3: given the changes in modalities of shopping? If you have

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Speaker 3: a choice of where and how you can buy your products,

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Speaker 3: And within a particular retail, you have choice of where

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Speaker 3: and how to buy those products. Then wouldn’t you want

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Speaker 3: that curated experience coming from an influencer to help guide

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Speaker 3: those newer ways of buying? So it’s part of me

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Speaker 3: is like, well, what took so long, right?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I think one of the things that just

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Speaker 4: took so long was infrastructure. And then really we needed

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Speaker 4: the rise of TikTok, where the predominant form of content

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Speaker 4: essentially became UGC. But it’s pretty remarkable. It’s obviously been

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Speaker 4: happening in China for the last 20 years of commerce.

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Speaker 4: And who better to learn from than someone who’s in

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Speaker 4: a global position across all markets with really big brands

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Speaker 4: and incredible reach? Someone who’s leading global digital at Beiersdorf.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Axel is a special character because I think he’s

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Speaker 3: particularly adept at connecting the dots. So I don’t look

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Speaker 3: at him as anybody who would be like, hey, why

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Speaker 3: didn’t he think of this sooner? He always thinks of

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Speaker 3: things sooner.

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Speaker 4: Well, on that note, let’s bring Axel onto the show. Today,

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Speaker 4: we are super excited to have Axel Adida onto the show,

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Speaker 4: who is the chief digital officer of Beiersdorf. Hello, Axel.

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Speaker 2: Hello, Sarah. Hello, Rachel. Thank you so much for hosting me.

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Speaker 4: We’re super excited. Where in the world are you calling

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Speaker 4: in from?

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Speaker 2: I’m calling from Hamburg, Germany.

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Speaker 4: All right, we’ve gone global, folks.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely European.

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Speaker 4: Axel, you and I have had the pleasure to get

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Speaker 4: to know each other via Micmac and Beiersdorf, but you

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Speaker 4: have a very relevant history to this show. You’ve spent

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Speaker 4: time at L’Oreal, you’ve spent time at Sanofi, and of course,

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Speaker 4: now you’re at Beiersdorf. And in all these roles, you’ve

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Speaker 4: been leading global brands, primarily in the beauty and overall

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Speaker 4: health and wellness space. There’s been a lot of change

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Speaker 4: in these sectors. What do you feel have been the

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Speaker 4: key changes and maybe what still has remained the same

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Speaker 4: over the last decade?

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Speaker 1: There’s three things that do not change in fast-moving consumer goods.

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Speaker 2: First, great brands win.

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Speaker 1: I could not be more favored than working for Nivea, Eucerin, Hansaplast,

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Speaker 1: and La Prairie, which have been in people’s hearts for

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Speaker 1: over 100 years. Second, great research and development and innovation

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Speaker 1: absolutely wins. We have Tiamidol, which is an extraordinary molecule

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Speaker 1: for anti-pigmentation, which has been cracking with user in markets

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Speaker 1: from North America to Asia. And third things, great products

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Speaker 1: when they make it to the consumer and how you

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Speaker 1: come across. Hero products are still as relevant to e-com

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Speaker 1: as they used to be in the physical shelves not

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Speaker 1: so long ago. I think the one thing when you

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Speaker 1: look at it, there are five big things that are changing.

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Speaker 1: We do have a very strong media shift. How much

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Speaker 1: people have become digital in just 10 years still baffles me.

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Speaker 1: Over three quarter or 80% of our time is now

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Speaker 1: on average digital. Very strong today, influence is coming as

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Speaker 1: a major media channel. When you think about it, social

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Speaker 1: media only started in 2006 and now you’ve got 5

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Speaker 1: billion people over two hours per day, just social media.

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Speaker 1: So the very strong shift with influence, big screen being

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Speaker 1: back and retail media being everywhere is still a big

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Speaker 1: change in the media space. Two, data-driven marketing is a

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Speaker 1: major shift. It’s quite funny because now, you know, you

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Speaker 1: wouldn’t even think about it, but all the algorithmic for

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Speaker 1: content is everywhere. All the algorithmic for influence or advertising

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Speaker 1: is everywhere. So there’s no marketing with no data at

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Speaker 1: the core of it. The funny thing is I got

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Speaker 1: a 12 years old at home and younger ones, and

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Speaker 1: you realize that they’ve been born with intrinsically social stories,

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Speaker 1: which make a very different fabric of life stories in childhood.

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Speaker 1: You know, you born social, your average story is a

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Speaker 1: few seconds to a few minutes, and you build a

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Speaker 1: drove of education and beauty like never before. I got

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Speaker 1: the impression I don’t have a young teenager. I got

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Speaker 1: a beauty assistant at home. And it’s quite impressive. Fourth shift,

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Speaker 1: you know, massive explosion of formats. TVC used to be

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Speaker 1: a reflex still until, you know, somewhere in the 220s.

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Speaker 1: But now you got your squares, your stories, your 69.

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Speaker 1: You need to have episodes. If you repeat the same

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Speaker 1: ad for 10 times, people get crazy.

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Speaker 2: They want diversity.

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Speaker 1: Very big shift. And the last one, it’s a bigger shift.

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Speaker 1: I think it’s a shift in what is a marketer

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Speaker 1: job today. And it’s a very strong multi-specialist business. Some

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Speaker 1: people get fantastically relevant in reading profiteer results and monitoring

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Speaker 1: the digital shelf. Others are crafting SEO content. So it’s

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Speaker 1: really a multi-specialist business. And people are having five or

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Speaker 1: 10 different careers in the span of their own career.

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Speaker 1: So from where I sit, those are still seismic changes

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Speaker 1: in digital today, and it doesn’t stop accelerating.

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Speaker 4: So with all of those changes, like, for example, you

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Speaker 4: mentioned a big shift in media. You talk about influencers.

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Speaker 4: You talk about retail media. Given that your role is

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Speaker 4: so global, are those more pronounced in certain countries than others?

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Speaker 1: I think if there’s one country which sums it all

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Speaker 1: up with a lot of advance, it’s actually China.

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Speaker 2: Okay. So China is just everything, just like more of it.

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Speaker 1: More formats, more AI, more interaction, more WeChat, and stuff

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Speaker 1: come up in China and then make it big. You know,

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Speaker 1: TikTok was born not too long ago, started with LibDub,

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Speaker 1: and now it’s a big social commerce business. So also

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Speaker 1: the speed is so different. So every time I’m traveling

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Speaker 1: to Shanghai, you know, it’s like a tremendous inspiration. An

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Speaker 1: inspiration to run a little faster every time.

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Speaker 3: Let’s dive a little bit more into China. Like, what

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Speaker 3: are the things that you’re learning? What’s changing here? And

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Speaker 3: how do you filter what is worth bringing back versus

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Speaker 3: what is just endemic to that environment in and of itself?

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Speaker 1: I think this one is a fantastic question. You know,

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Speaker 1: there are differences. KOLs, key opinion leaders, we call them influencer,

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Speaker 1: but they’re very much the same. Doing media on Alibaba,

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Speaker 1: you know, we have Amazon Media, everybody’s copied the playbook,

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Speaker 1: it’s very much, and it’s become very close. Social media platform, well,

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Speaker 1: we got a bit of Meta, a bit of TikTok.

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Speaker 1: So all those, surprisingly enough, originating from here, from China,

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Speaker 1: they have a very different brand name, but the playbook’s

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Speaker 1: not too different. The one thing right now that remains

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Speaker 1: quite different is how WeChat is powerful. And we don’t

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Speaker 1: see it working really in that way anywhere else out

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Speaker 1: of Southeast Asia. And the other one is live streaming.

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Speaker 1: You know, it’s a QVC back to us, you know,

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Speaker 1: seeing all the displays with TV shopping and all this

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Speaker 1: enormous in China. And every time it’s come up around here,

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Speaker 1: it has gone a bit soft, but it doesn’t mean

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Speaker 1: it will not succeed on the second or third attempt.

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Speaker 3: Well, Do you think that that’s just because it looks

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Speaker 3: too much like the way QVC did? And so it’s

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Speaker 3: like there’s an association with that. It’s the, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 3: been there, done that. Like, do we need to almost

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Speaker 3: like rebrand that concept to get people or marketers to

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Speaker 3: believe in it? Or it’s just, you know what, that

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Speaker 3: actually just works better for a Chinese consumer.

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Speaker 1: To be frank, I don’t know. Still have questions. You know,

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Speaker 1: they long the interaction with people. Questions, questions on promotions,

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Speaker 1: questions on the product. And they’re used to having it

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Speaker 1: pretty much live. And the way live streaming is done,

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Speaker 1: notably for luxury product in Asia, sometimes can be quite

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Speaker 1: an interesting experience when one is doing their exploration. But

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Speaker 1: the funny thing is, you know, young team around Europe

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Speaker 1: or North America will be typing into TikTok search to

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Speaker 1: see what other people are looking at. or into ratings

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Speaker 1: and reviews. And the experience is going to be more

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Speaker 1: personal in Asia. Maybe the third time will be a hit. TikTok,

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Speaker 1: it was quite funny. You know, the first time we

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Speaker 1: had Vine, you know, micro videos and a couple of

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Speaker 1: other ones. And they popped up. They became something. People

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Speaker 1: invented memes. And then they died. And one morning you

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Speaker 1: got TikTok and, oof, brutally, an idea that didn’t work

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Speaker 1: three times is back. Maybe, well, this one, close your

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Speaker 1: eyes on it. There might be a comeback.

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Speaker 4: Not to turn this into a show about the history

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Speaker 4: of Micmac, but the first version of Micmac dating back

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Speaker 4: 10 years ago was essentially trying to crack this for

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Speaker 4: the US. People described us as QVC for Snapchat at

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Speaker 4: the time. And the conclusions that I came to is

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Speaker 4: the difference between the Southeast Asia market and the US.

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Speaker 4: We have these established banking systems in the US. We

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Speaker 4: have these established fulfillment players in the US. In Southeast Asia,

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Speaker 4: it was the wild, wild west. So Peer-to-peer shopping was

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Speaker 4: born because there was no prior ecosystem. And that’s why

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Speaker 4: I think fundamentally something like WeChat is a commerce tool

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Speaker 4: in Southeast Asia and it’s not here because it’s kind

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Speaker 4: of very similar to what’s happening with TikTok and creators

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Speaker 4: in the US. This is the generation that’s building the ecosystem.

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Speaker 4: There’s no confines of the system that they have to

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Speaker 4: exist in. I really believe that’s why we’re seeing certain

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Speaker 4: things not take off in the Western part of the world.

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Speaker 2: Fantastic insight.

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Speaker 1: It’s true, you know, going to China back from 15

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Speaker 1: years ago, it’s quite interesting to see how much it

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Speaker 1: all started from pretty much scratch with an environment with retail,

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Speaker 1: which was, you know, still very, very scrappy at the time.

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Speaker 1: And in 15 years, I mean, the way those guys

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Speaker 1: have gone and the modernization of the country and of retail,

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Speaker 1: it’s impressive, you know, it’s miraculous in its size and dimensions.

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Speaker 1: And it’s a fresh start. I think where I get

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Speaker 1: more open right now is how quickly TikTok has conquered

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Speaker 1: the world. Never know what’s going to come with the luggage.

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Speaker 1: Maybe a bit of live streaming of new practices come

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Speaker 1: with a new paradigm of TikTok, which is really a

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Speaker 1: big change on the way people interact with content and

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Speaker 1: with brands right now.

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Speaker 4: On the topic of brands, especially luxury brands, given like

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Speaker 4: your deep roots into beauty, Despite what’s happening in the economy,

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Speaker 4: like luxury is taking off. And so what’s your outlook

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Speaker 4: on this overall desire economy?

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Speaker 1: You know, there’s something which is very interesting in just

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Speaker 1: using the word, you know, desire. When I was a kid,

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Speaker 1: in marketing, we used to talk about generate demand, brand awareness,

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Speaker 1: getting the product on the shelves. And now we’re all

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Speaker 1: into brand love on the one side and product desirability

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Speaker 1: on the other side. It’s really quite funny how new generations,

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Speaker 1: new consumers in Asia have broken sort of the marketing

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Speaker 1: matrix and the marketing funnel. You know, this awareness, interest, desire,

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Speaker 1: action now look a bit antiquated. What I find really

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Speaker 1: interesting in the way people behave when they’re early teens

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Speaker 1: is And how much that becomes contagious to older folks

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Speaker 1: like myself very quickly, because the younger ones show you

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Speaker 1: how they do, and then you say, well, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: should do the same. So interesting is an infinite loop

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Speaker 1: of inspiration, exploration, and community. Inspiration, you come with a

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Speaker 1: fantastic product. People find it on social networks. They go

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Speaker 1: and search for it on Google. They search for it

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Speaker 1: on Amazon.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes it’s the contrary.

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Speaker 1: Your teenager discovers a product on Amazon and end up,

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Speaker 1: you know, on all sorts of blogs, still exist actually,

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Speaker 1: to understand why an ingredient this month in Germany, the

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Speaker 1: big ingredient is rosemary oil, supposed to be really fantastic

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Speaker 1: for your hair. I strongly recommend anti-pigment because this one

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Speaker 1: I’m pretty sure, you know, the effects are fantastic and

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Speaker 1: thiamidol is an amazing molecule, but all the desire people

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Speaker 1: have for understanding their skin, their bodies, how to care

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Speaker 1: about oneself. All this exploration is really a new movement.

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Speaker 1: And that’s quite funny because we tend to see consumer

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Speaker 1: like bees today. One moment you go on TikTok, another

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Speaker 1: moment you go on Google, another moment you go on Amazon,

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Speaker 1: in all sorts of direction. And you are going to

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Speaker 1: make your opinion one day on what’s a zeitgeist, you know,

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Speaker 1: what’s interest today and how can those ingredients, those routines change.

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Speaker 1: change the way you enter into beauty. And you do

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Speaker 1: that in a fairly, as a consumer, in a very

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Speaker 1: articulate way, exploring, getting inspiration and inspiration from peers. All

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Speaker 1: the community element is really strong here with ratings and reviews.

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Speaker 1: And it’s gigantic in China with Red, which is, you know,

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Speaker 1: a very interesting network in its own right. So something

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Speaker 1: has shifted. People keep doing what they did, compare pricing,

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Speaker 1: check if people like it. But the palette of activities

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Speaker 1: for exploration has become immense. And that I find quite interesting.

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Speaker 1: The other thing which I think is interesting is in

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Speaker 1: that mix, influencers have become something. When 56% of consumers

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Speaker 1: buy a product after seeing an influencer video, it’s actually

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Speaker 1: seriously moving the needle in people’s interest in social validation.

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Speaker 1: Getting advice from peers, seeing people do applications, It’s not

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Speaker 1: purely advertising, it’s reporting on experience. And that’s a very

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Speaker 1: big shift in opinion forming, I think.

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Speaker 3: You’re raising a very good point. I’ve been thinking a

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Speaker 3: lot about the role of influencers. I mean, I’ve been

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Speaker 3: involved in, gosh, influencer marketing for almost 20 years now,

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Speaker 3: which is just crazy. And even before that for 10,

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Speaker 3: because I started out in PR, which basically is influencer marketing.

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Speaker 3: One of the reasons why influencers, in my opinion, why

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Speaker 3: influencers are actually more important now than ever before is

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Speaker 3: because there are so many insurgent brands that are coming

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Speaker 3: on the scene due to the democratization of entry. The

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Speaker 3: fact that anybody can decide that their beauty brand or

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Speaker 3: an anti-pigmentation brand or a rosemary oil brand or whatever

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Speaker 3: it is. And as long as they figure out how

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Speaker 3: to game the algorithm, what you’ve done is you’ve expanded

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Speaker 3: the number of choices that a consumer can have. but

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Speaker 3: a consumer is still not going to click no matter

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Speaker 3: how exciting the ad is. It goes back to the

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Speaker 3: thing that you said at the beginning of the conversation.

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Speaker 3: Great brands, strong R & D, great product. Who’s going

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Speaker 3: to validate that? It’s going to be the influencers because

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Speaker 3: that’s the only way you’re going to even be willing,

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Speaker 3: whether it’s a dollar or whether it’s a thousand dollars,

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Speaker 3: you’re not going to be able to do it. So

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Speaker 3: there’s a combination of more choices and but also more transparency.

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Speaker 3: As much as the market is giving consumers more choices

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Speaker 3: of what and where and how they can buy, you’re

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Speaker 3: not going to do it unless you actually know whether or.

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Speaker 5: Not it works.

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Speaker 3: And reviews on your own website are just not going

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Speaker 3: to get it done. So I feel like that social

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Speaker 3: commerce element is like something we still need to unlock

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Speaker 3: depending on the market itself. So what are you seeing

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Speaker 3: as it relates to social commerce, where you’ve got that

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Speaker 3: intersection of choice and transparency? And where and how do

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Speaker 3: you play as an incumbent and as a trusted brand?

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Speaker 1: I think this one is a big one. And social

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Speaker 1: commerce takes, you know, fairly different forms. In a way,

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Speaker 1: you know, social commerce, you know, I got that idea from.

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Speaker 2: You, Rachel. So credit is due, you know, social commerce

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Speaker 2: is a new D2C. And it’s true.

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Speaker 1: So everything that sold well on D2C, especially everything which

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Speaker 1: is a fairly sizable basket from higher end beauty products

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Speaker 1: or clothes are fantastic and they actually perform everywhere. In

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Speaker 1: Southeast Asia, what’s interesting is because of the lower cost

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Speaker 1: of delivery and the pervasiveness of being delivered everyday goods

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Speaker 1: at home, social commerce has a whole other dimension in

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Speaker 1: size and for everything. including for entry products or a

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Speaker 1: small sun tube, you get home delivered. So Southeast Asia,

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Speaker 1: it’s a very pervasive transformation. And it’s something we are investing,

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Speaker 1: you know, from anywhere from China to Malaysia. In other

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Speaker 1: places in the world, truth is, it’s something that people

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Speaker 1: are using a lot. And they also use it to

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Speaker 1: discover and discover products which are a bit more upscale.

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Speaker 2: Chameleon is a good example.

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Speaker 1: And to discover on products you want to get delivered

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Speaker 1: home and where you have a better acceptability for home

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Speaker 1: delivery and delivery costs or where they can be bought,

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Speaker 1: to discover new products in the face section in particular,

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Speaker 1: where you want to have an immediate discovery on multiple

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Speaker 1: things that can work for you. I think the one

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Speaker 1: thing which is interesting in social is 75% of the.

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Speaker 2: Conversation in boutique are around face. It’s quite obvious, actually.

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Speaker 1: When you say I have a skin routine, you show

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Speaker 1: it with your phone, but you seldom show your belly

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Speaker 1: or your legs. You really show your face. So very obviously,

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Speaker 1: you know, the telephone by design is a face mechanism.

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Speaker 1: It’s really the categories that exist there in a beautiful way.

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Speaker 1: Also a fun fact, when you talk influence, sometimes you

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Speaker 1: meet serious folks that tells you, you know, I don’t

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Speaker 1: really follow influencers. I’m not so much in the Bravo culture.

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Speaker 1: you know, and not everybody and something. And then I

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Speaker 1: ask people, and what about the last time you bought

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Speaker 1: a car or a barbecue? Did you go and check

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Speaker 1: out a YouTube video? People say, yes, like 100%. Everything

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Speaker 1: that you’re going to buy, which is high involvement, you

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Speaker 1: don’t think of them as influencer, but the guy doing

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Speaker 1: actually your car review on YouTube is as much as

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Speaker 1: influencer as it gets. And it’s a fairly rational analysis.

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Speaker 1: Many videos that I see in the beauty section, are

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Speaker 1: fairly rational in the ways they are being wrote about. Before, after,

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Speaker 1: what are the effects, what is the texture? Sometimes I’m amazed,

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Speaker 1: you know, the level of skills and prowess of influencers

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Speaker 1: is just flabbergasting. Quality matters. People get so sophisticated, just

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Speaker 1: the same way we get sophisticated about trip advisor review.

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Speaker 1: You know, when the restaurant is a fast food, you

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Speaker 1: know that it’s a five-star fast food, but it’s not

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Speaker 1: the Michelin star. You get a bit of sort of

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Speaker 1: radar to actually read the reviews in a way that

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Speaker 1: can be relevant. And consumers are so sophisticated.

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Speaker 2: It’s funny.

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Speaker 4: I never thought we don’t see enough legs, you know, armpits, bellies, backs,

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Speaker 4: as you said. So maybe that is the next frontier. Absolutely.

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Speaker 4: We got to ask you our famous last question, which

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Speaker 4: is what’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?

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Speaker 1: Well, it’s probably not very brave in general, but in

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Speaker 1: my first career, I was a consultant. One morning I

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Speaker 1: woke up and I said, you know, all my friends

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Speaker 1: are going, they’re creating startups.

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Speaker 2: I was terrified.

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Speaker 1: And I go and I start in the beginnings of

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Speaker 1: two tents, an AI startup. And it’s an absolute disaster.

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Speaker 1: And I’m just like, my partner comes to me and say, well,

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Speaker 1: we are not born to be entrepreneurs.

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Speaker 2: It’s not a thing.

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Speaker 1: And I think the thing which was very brave for

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Speaker 1: me was not to go the first time. It was

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Speaker 1: to raise again and create a second one. You know,

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Speaker 1: after six months we were selling to Apple, to Asia.

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Speaker 2: To Indonesia.

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Speaker 1: And it proves, you know, you need to confront your

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Speaker 1: own dragon because, you know, it’s only scary from afar.

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Speaker 1: But if you get close, you’re going to sit on

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Speaker 1: it and have a good flight. You know, it’s fantastic.

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Speaker 4: Well, I’m curious what happens to that company. So I’m

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Speaker 4: going to have to go do some Googling. But Axel,

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Speaker 4: we’re so appreciative for your time, for your global insights.

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Speaker 4: You clearly have a front row seat for everything that’s

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Speaker 4: happening across the ecosystem. So thank you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Sarah. Raisha, have a fantastic day

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Speaker 2: and thank you so much.

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Speaker 4: If you want to spend more time thinking about skincare,

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00:23:11,880 –> 00:23:15,160
Speaker 4: go check out an episode that we did with Natalie,

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Speaker 4: who’s the president of L’Oreal’s mass consumer products business this year,

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Speaker 4: or go back even earlier this year and listen to

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Speaker 4: an episode with Julian, who is leading a more pacific

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Speaker 4: a company that has been based in the Eastern world

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Speaker 4: and is now making tremendous progress in the Western part

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Speaker 4: of the world. If you’re enjoying what you’re hearing, tell

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Speaker 4: a friend, write a review. Thanks for listening.

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Speaker 5: Hi, I’m Jackie Cooper, Global Chief Brand Officer at Edelman

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Speaker 5: and the host of Touch of Truth, a new podcast

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Speaker 5: launching on the Adweek Podcast Network. My dad gave me

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Speaker 5: this incredibly smart piece of advice. Meet everyone once. As

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Speaker 5: a result, I’ve met some of the most fascinating and

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Speaker 5: inspiring people on the planet. Now on Touch of Truth,

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Speaker 5: we’re coming centre stage and sharing the mic to experience

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Speaker 5: stories of truth, insights and visions for the future that

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Speaker 5: will challenge your way of thinking. Touch of Truth is

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Speaker 5: available wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes come out

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Speaker 5: every Tuesday. I do hope to see you there.