The history of the creation of the Loreal company! L'Oreal

The L'Oreal company (L'Oreal) today is one of the most famous and successful companies in the world for the production of cosmetics. In addition to cosmetics under the L'Oreal brand (? Or? Al Professionnel and? Or? Al Paris), they also produce and sell cosmetics of such prestigious luxury brands as Giorgio Armani, Helena Rubinstein, Yves Saint Laurent, professional cosmetics Kerastase, Redken, Matrix and Garnier and Maybelline economy class cosmetics. Today L'Oreal is the second most valuable company in France, the first place is taken by the oil company Total Fina Elf. And the owner of L'Oreal, Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of the company's founder, is the richest woman in France.

Liliane Bettencourt owns 31% of the company's shares plus a controlling stake, 29.8% of L'Oreal's shares are owned by Nestl ?, the rest of the shares are public.

The history of the creation of the Loreal company - how did it all begin?

Liliane Bettencourt was born on October 21, 1922, her mother died when Lillian was only 5 years old, and Lillian became very close to her father, she was definitely her father's daughter. At the age of 15, Lilian began working and studying at the company founded by her father, at L'Oreal.

In 1950, Lilian married André Bettencourt, a politician and acquaintance of her father. He was a senator and a minister in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he became deputy chairman of L'Or? Al. His retirement from politics was due to the fact that, as it became known to the general public, both André Bettencourt and Liliane Bettencourt's father Eugene Schueller (he actively financed their activities) in the 1930s were members of the French fascist group La Cagoule, and in the years of the Second World War II maintained ties with the Nazis. Many of the members of this group then got jobs at L'Oreal.

In 1953, Liliane and André Bettencourt had their only daughter, Françoise. Today she and her husband are also actively involved in the management of the company.

And the history of the Loreal company began in the distant 1907when Lillian's father Eugene Schueller (a chemist by training and the son of a simple baker) created synthetic hair dye. The paint he created delighted not only his wife Louise (in fact, it was she who pushed him to the idea of ​​creating Hair Dye that she once dyed her hair quite unsuccessfully and was rather upset), but also a familiar hairdresser. The paint he created was named L'Aur? Ale, and its main advantage was that it did not contain lead - the first safe synthetic paint, so it was dubbed.

Eugene Schueller was born in 1881, studied to be a chemist, worked for some time in the Central Pharmacy of France. His company, which had a very long name (Soci? T? Fran? Aise de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux - a French company for the production of safe hair dyes), he registered in 1909. The company with such an impressive name was housed in a two-room apartment and had a budget of 800 francs. “Research and innovation in the field of beauty” was her slogan. Eugene Schueller demanded from clients that they check the hair dye first on one strand, and only then dye all the hair. In the future, customer care will become the hallmark of Loreal for many years.

Already in 1928, Eugene Schueller bought the Monsavon soap factory. In the 1930s, this soap will become the most popular in France.

In 1929, an even better quality hair dye appeared - Imm? Dia. And in the same year, Eugene Schueller's company began to publish the beauty magazine Votre Beaute, and in 1937 they would begin to publish another magazine - Marie-Claire.

In 1932, the production of the now legendary hair sprays starts, and in 1934 the company produces the first hair shampoo, because before its appearance, hair was usually washed with soap.

In the second half of the 1930s, which coincides with the rise of the fashion for tanning, Eugene Schueller opens a plant for the production of sunscreens.

In 1939, the company gets its current name - L'Oreal (L'Oréal), after the hairstyle fashionable at the beginning of the twentieth century, which consisted in the fact that the hair was styled around the head in waves and framed the face like a halo (l'or (gold) and aureole (halo)).

In the late 1940s, Loreal launched the first home paint, Rege-Color, and in the 1950s opened a subsidiary in the United States.

In 1957, after the death of Eugene Schueller, his daughter Liliane Bettencourt is the head of the company.

"We deserve it!"

Loreal "We deserve it!" or "You deserve it!" L'Oreal advertisements are reported today from advertisements and TV screens. However, more recently it sounded a little differently "I deserve it!". And this advertising slogan appeared back in 1971, when an employee of an advertising agency in New York, Elon Specht, who was then only 23 years old, received an order to develop an advertisement for the Preference paint from L'Oreal Paris.

The competitor of hair dyes from L'Oreal at that time was the dye company Clairol, whose advertising slogan was "Does she dye her hair or not?". Ilon Specht decided to offer the opposite slogan. “Why women should take care that the use of cosmetics is invisible” - she probably thought and suggested her own version - “Preference from L'Oreal is the most expensive paint, but it deserves it. And me too". This slogan has changed over time, but the essence has always remained the same "We deserve it!"

Today, Loreal represents over 500 different cosmetic brands and includes 25 world famous cosmetic companies, as well as more than 40 factories around the world. There is also a L'Oreal production in Russia - a factory for the production of shampoos and hair care products is located in the Kaluga region.

Following the traditions laid down by its founder Eugene Schueller, Loreal pays a lot of attention to research in the field of cosmetology, so they own 5 research centers located in France, the USA, Japan and China, which employ more than 2,700 chemists, developing more and more perfect cosmetics. The company conducts research in dermatology, pharmaceuticals and nanotechnology. More than once, L'Oreal has been accused of conducting experiments on animals.

Loreal's expenses are also significant for advertising - 30% of the profit. L'Oreal cosmetics were advertised by both Penelope Cruz and Catherine Deneuve, and Jennifer Lopez, and Claudia Schiffer and many other rich, famous and beautiful women of our world who do not get tired of repeating from the screens “We deserve it!”.