Nestle and L’Oreal: this time it’s personal

Nick | 26 Jan 2009, 19:52

Mounting speculation that Swiss food giant Nestle will buy French cosmetics giant L’Oreal seems to confirm the logic that the FMCG sector will be increasingly dominated by “personal care” products.

P&G long-ago rebalanced their business to focus on the personal care business, an area where commoditisation is less of a threat and where its ability to innovate rapidly is in greatest demand. Meanwhile food brands such as Flora and Actimel increasingly trade on their “health and wellness” benefits and homecare brands like Lenor position themselves as part of a personal pampering routine. As food and beauty move closer together, it’s clear that the future of FMCG marketing is personal and for the creative industries, which exist to provoke a personal response, this is a huge opportunity to work more closely with big brands.