The news was released Monday morning: cosmetics diva Estée Lauder died on Saturday in New York City. She was 97.
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| Estée Lauder |
Estée Lauder’s grandson, William Lauder, is scheduled to take the helm of the $10 billion company on July 1. Other members of the family, including Estée Lauder’s sons Leonard and Ronald, hold top executive positions with the conglomerate known as Estée Lauder Cos.
Like many moguls who have lent their names to the companies they’ve built, Estée Lauder had come to be thought of as a corporate entity, with dwindling connection to an actual person. But there was a time in the 1980s when I was very aware of her as my larger-than-life boss.
I was a “Lauder girl.” Working my way through college and grad school, I managed Lauder operations for high-end department stores, first in the New York metro and then Boston areas. In-store displays, inventory management, hiring and training of other “Lauder girls”—it was all part of my job for those three years; but most of all, it was about putting the product in front of the customer and leveraging the incentives that Estée Lauder had introduced.
She was the first to give customers a gift-with-purchase (makeup bags filled with lipsticks and nail polish samples were a favorite GWP). She was also a pioneer of purchase-with-purchase premiums (the Holiday PWP, a huge tray with that season’s lipsticks, nail and eye colors, became legendary—”a $125 value, yours for just $15 with a fragrance purchase.”) Whatever the time of year, customers knew they would always get a few “extras” (miniscule vials of scent, tiny pouches of skin ointment) with even a modest purchase.
In order to teach its field staff about Lauder color, fragrance and skin products, the company invested in lots of training, and those of us in the New York City area received annual invitations to train at the epicenter: Lauder corporate offices. The highlight of these sessions was a tour that culminated in Mrs. Lauder’s corner office. She wasn’t in residence that first time I visited HQ (she was notorious among her employees for surprise visits to local department store counters to work directly with customers), so we were able to linger a bit. There were the usual tokens of corporate power: terrific views from both perspectives, brocade-upholstered Louis XV furniture, photos atop of the credenza of the grande dame with assorted Hollywood celebrities and U.S. presidents. Then there was her powder room.
With great seriousness, our escort ushered the six or so trainees in our group into the inner sanctum. The décor echoed the outer office, with its draperies and brocades. And there it was, center stage on the vanity: the current Holiday PWP. This wasn’t just a display piece; judging by the used eye shadow applicators, Estée Lauder was woman who used her own products faithfully.
Years later, so do the rest of us Lauder girls.
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