Female Millennial, Gen-X Opps: Sephora announces CEO succession plan (Score 65)

Sales lead: This transition will affect the company's marketing strategy & could lead to agency reviews. 

• Sephora promoted Artemis Patrick to NA CEO, effective April 2024.
• The current CEO, Jean-Andre Rougeot, is retiring but will stay on until April to train Patrick.
• Patrick has been with Sephora since 2006 and currently serves as global chief merchandising officer. 
• As CEO, Patrick will be responsible for stores, eCommerce, marketing, tech, strategy, and supply chain. 
• We told you about Sephora hiring Zena Arnold as CMO in May. 

Target demographic: Millennial/Gen-X women & gift-giving men

The company will likely:

• Keep increasing ad spend
• Review agency relationships
• Implement new strategies 

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Sephora spent nearly $7.9m on national TV ads YTD after not allocating any budget toward this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend dropped 16% from $6.2m in 2021 to $5.2m in 2022.
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as Today 1, American Idol, Good Morning America, Friends, and The Voice. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Sephora spent almost $56.2m on digital display ads YTD, a 52% jump from $37m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 7.9b impressions via Instagram (38%), Facebook (37%), YouTube (14%), desktop display (10%), and mobile display (1%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend increased by 38% from $48.3m in 2021 to $66.7m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 99% of these ads directly onto sites such as instagram.com, facebook.com, youtube.com, bossip.com, and madamenoire.com. It placed 1% of these ads indirectly through Display & Video 360 onto sites such as fandom.com, signupgenius.com, wordtravelling.com, buzzfeed.com, and chegg.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: Sephora also invests in OOH, print, radio, and local broadcast. 
• Top podcasts sponsored: Armstrong & Getty, The Daily Show With Trevor Noah: Ears Edition, The Breakfast Club, and The Daily Zeitgeist. 

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: The recent DM shifts make these accounts vulnerable to review, so get in touch now to be top-of-mind. 
• Current roster:
  • Digitas: media AOR
  • Collectively: media, digital, creative, & social
  • R/GA: creative AOR
  • In-house: media