"Influencers have had a tremendous impact in the beauty category as they have reshaped the way consumers select brands, inform themselves about products and shape their looks" explains Leila Rochet-Podvin, founder of Cosmetics Inspiration & Creation, who will be monitoring the roundtable. Influencer marketing has become a key strategic area for brands as social media is becoming an essential source of information and the center of trust. NPD's Makeup In-Depth Consumer Report 2016 highlighted that 92% of makeup users get information on beauty products from influencers' YouTube videos. At the next conference event of the MakeUp in LosAngeles, on February 7 at 2:45 pm, experts in the field will share their vision and discuss on the future of influencers.

Eric Briones, Author, Professor and Co-Founder of the Paris School of Luxury (aka @Darplanneur) will be the first speaker and will present “The Crisis of Influence – What Are The Future Challenges”. He will focus on deciphering the Generation Z’s behavior that he describes as the “Influencer Natives”.

Eric likes to describe himself as a cool hunter and a strategic planner who loves to shake ideas. He has a true passion for disruption and collaboration. Eric is also a famous author. He has co-written several books: “Buzz Marketing” in 2002 by Eyrolles Karim B. Stambouli, "Generation Y and Luxury" in 2014 by Dunod with Grégory Casper (DCF Best Book Prize 2014) and in 2016 “Digital & Luxury”. Today, he is immerging himself in the next generation, the Gen Z.

Eric has also a strong academic career. He was professor of communications at MCI and MBA Moda Domani Institute, in charge of the Chair "Sociology andTrends." Today, he is the Co-Founder and Professor of the Paris School of Luxury, responsible of the academic program.

After his MBA in Marketing and Commerce on the Internet (MBA-MCI) in 1997, Eric Briones joined Publicis as e-business and communication consultant. In 2001 he became Director of Strategic Planning Publicis e-brand, followed by Publicis & Nous in 2003. In 2005 Eric Briones created the Darkplanneur blog, a blog in the field of trends and strategic planning. Eric Briones has worked with major luxury companies: Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Clarins, L'Oréal Luxe, Kenzo, Armani, SKP Beijing, Maserati, Kiton....

Targeting micro-influencers!

The second invited speaker is Conor Begley, Co-Founder of Tribe Dynamics, an industry leader in measuring social influencer engagement, particularly in beauty. Conor will provide his vision as expert of “The future of influencers according to Tribe Dynamics”.

The company measures Earned Media Value (EMV) to quantify the estimated value of publicity gained through digital earned media and their respective engagement levels. Through their software, they monitor relevant influencers in the beauty and lifestyle spaces, including individuals, retailers and publications, whose posts are used to calculate the brand’s total EMV.

Conor will discuss the future of influencers and will address the importance of targeting micro-influencers that have higher engagement as their content generates authentic passion from their followers. Micro-influencers comprise a larger share of the beauty community than macro and have greater engagement from their tight-knit following.

Conor Begley and co-founder Jon Namnath started Tribe Dynamics in April 2012, after Conor discovered the power and potential of influencer marketing while working in Australia. With extensive experience in search marketing, reputation management and CRM systems, Conor and Jon decided that influencer marketers needed their own.

The Beauty industry is undergoing a seismic shift!

Rob McLoughlin, VP Consumer Research at POPSUGAR will be the third speaker and will present "The Future of Influencers - Insights from POPSUGAR." For Rob McLoughlin “The Beauty industry is undergoing a seismic shift, challenged by dynamic startups who are taking advantage of the instant scale and influence achievable via social marketing. Organic growth of legacy beauty brands is slowing while upstarts are usurping their once unimpeachable leadership position in the eyes of consumers”.

Today, sales growth is being driven by the rise of beauty influencers. In fact, over 70% of sales growth in beauty products is driven by social media influencers. The market is large enough for both legacy and new brands to succeed, but in order to do so, both legacy players and newcomers need to use data and insights to identify the right influencers that will move the needle and convince consumers to purchase their brands.

POPSUGAR is leading the way, developing proprietary insights engines, such as RetailRank, to help beauty brands understand which influencers are driving earned media and generating engagement, and delivering tangible ROI results to brands who choose to invest in digital. Rob McLoughlin, Vice President of Insights for POPSUGAR, will discuss how POPSUGAR uses data and insights to help beauty brands navigate the evolving landscape, identify the right influencers to partner with, and measure the effectiveness of their digital marketing efforts.

As Vice President of Consumer Insights, Rob McLoughlin leads all research, data, and analytics efforts for POPSUGAR, including managing POPSUGAR Insights, a proprietary research platform dedicated to helping marketers understand female consumer attitudes and behaviors, and TrendRank, a proprietary predictive marketing analytics platform. Rob has authored more than 40 original research studies on consumer digital behavior, and is responsible for creating and curating all of the content that appears on POPSUGAR Insights. Prior to joining POPSUGAR, Rob led the consumer insights teams for SpinMedia, AOL, and DoubleClick.

Following these highly expected talks of experts, this session will be followed by a roundtable.

MakeUp in LosAngeles takes place on 7 & 8 February 2018, at Barker Hangar.