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McGreevy seminar highlights branding
For global businesses on an active merger and acquisition path, growing the company without cannibalizing one’s own brands can be difficult. A parent company may find itself controlling subsidiaries that promote and sell competing products. According to Sally Susman, senior vice president for global communications at The Estée Lauder Companies, as difficult as it can be, it is an enviable position. “You certainly would prefer to cannibalize yourself than face competition from someone else.”
Speaking to Goizueta alumnae, students, and Lauder executives at the Rebecca C. McGreevy ’55C Seminar in Public Relations in New York City last November, Susman discussed the role of marketing at a growing international firm. She directs the company’s global communications strategy, as well as media relations, employee communications, and consumer relations. Describing The Estée Lauder Companies as a “mature company with twenty-three brands growing at differing paces,” she said that a “healthy tension” exists among the company’s competing forces.
The company owns such well-known brands as Estée Lauder and Clinique, in addition to popular newer entrants including M·A·C and Bobbi Brown. Says Susman, “One third of our revenue comes from new products each year.” Often, it comes by way of newly acquired businesses. “It’s absolutely essential to create a buzz about what’s new and different with the company. When a company is growing, it all works out. Of course, there has to be corporate equity among the brands.”
Marketing in such a dynamic environment can be a challenge, but Susman noted that knowing your product, the competition, and the customer is half the battle. “Many forget the direct link from marketing to the bottom line. You have to make sure your work tracks directly back to the growth of the company.”
McGreevy served for nearly thirty years with the cosmetics giant as publicity director and later as senior vice president of public relations. In her memory, the Estée Lauder Companies established the Rebecca Cheney McGreevy Fund for Public Relations Curriculum Development and Research at Goizueta to educate young people in corporate public relations. An annual seminar, held in New York or Atlanta, features a notable public relations professional.
—Myra A. Thomas