L'Oreal Goes Bold On Online Spend

Speaking at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's "The Future Of Display" event this week, the CMO of worldwide cosmetics and beauty giant L'Oreal, Marc Speichert, put a bold stake in the ground concerning the state of internet marketing in the US by stating that L'Oreal USA is planning to spend as much on digital marketing in 2011 as it has done over the past couple of years added together.  

However, where their ad dollars get spent is still up for grabs.  L'Oreal know that one out of three of their customers researches products online before purchase, which reaches one in two for some of their categories, but the online research path takes in many types of media; reading editorial, seeing traditional banners, social media, word of mouth, and others besides.

As Speichert says, "Is everything eventually going to merge where I'm going to have a display banner that's going to kind of do everything, where I'm going to be able to purchase from my display banner and have my social component embedded into it?"

An iAd for the L'Oreal Paris brand is on its way "very soon" apparently, and L'Oreal is already partnering with Demand Media to create original, branded editorial content with two of Demand's sites to reach the online female market.

If L'Oreal are doubling their online investment this year, that can only be a positive sign for the internet marketing industry; other mass marketers will be watching where they invest with interest, given the size of their marketing budget.