Revlon Looks To The Future While Keeping An Eye On The Past

Michelle Peluso is shaking things up at Revlon Inc. The CEO, who today is celebrating her first year anniversary at the iconic beauty brand, is looking across the portfolio, which includes everything from the namesake Revlon brand and Elizabeth Arden heritage brand, to fragrances as Juicy Couture, while embracing purpose-driven modernization with consumers at the center of the strategy.

Peluso talked about the growth plan and five core strategic pillars as a foundation for success, including respect for the consumer, areas where the brand has the right to win and approaching storytelling in a bolder way. Product innovation, is also high on the list as is winning at omnichannel, and elevating the team.

The consumer is always changing and trends are changing, but Revlon’s color authority remains, Peluso said. “Revlon’s color cosmetics have always been about unforgettable glamour. We’re making sure we’re understanding the trends and are marrying that to where we have strong brand DNA. That’s what we’re focused on. Color has gone from the ‘no makeup makeup’ look to bolder color right now and that’s squarely in Revlon’s right to win.”

Peluso has deep experience in technology. “I’ve been at the forefront of technology my whole career and I’ve been working with AI since I started at IBM a decade ago. The most important thing for us is to make sure we’ve got the data right.”

The CEO is passionate about the culture of the work environment and holding herself accountable. “In the age of AI, our skills are becoming obsolete on a regular basis, whether we like it or not. We need people who are innately curious and collaborative and humble. If you’re not curious, you’re not humble and it doesn’t work,” she said.

“I’m not sure a top-down arrogant culture ever served anyone in the long term, but if it did, the time is not now,” she added. “The world is changing and technology is changing too fast. I won’t get it right every day – I don’t get it right every day – but we have at Revlon a very clear sense of values. We’re hiring people who share that philosophy.”

Revlon is “absolutely looking for acquisitions and it’s great that we’re in a place where we’re seeing such strong organic momentum and we can be looking on the outside,” Peluso said. “We’re also looking inside at our own existing bands. Make no mistake, Revlon still has a long way to go but we’ve made meaningful strides in many areas.”

The company is also looking at independent brands for inspiration, not acquisition. Peluso may have her eye on bigger players, but she’s not spilling any foundation or giving any hints.

Smaller brands set the bar higher and are sources of inspiration. “A lot of indie brands tap out at $30 million to $50 million and very few of them get to a really large scale,” Peluso said. “So, bring on small competitors, they make us better, they raise the bar. I appreciate them for making us paranoid and never being complacent. We have a very high external radar. We are not navel-gazing at Revlon.”

Peluso is gazing back in time and drawing inspiration from a 115 year old brand. The real Elizabeth Arden turned 115 years old “a year or two ago,” Peluso said, adding, “Every day, I feel Ms. Arden’s presence and a burning desire to make sure this brand is great for generations to come. The good news is that Revlon has a blueprint. We’re growing and seeing incredible success in China, the most discerning skin care market in the world.”

Revlon is taking its iconic Elizabeth Arden ceramide capsule and making it a young, fun digital-first brand in China. “It’s a great roadmap for the rest of our business around the world,” Peluso said. “Revlon is using this moment, the 115th anniversary, to galvanize.”

Elizabeth Arden was an immigrant to the U.S. and started the company from nothing before women had the right to vote. “She founded the company based on principles such as beauty is about science and shouldn’t be just fluff, that it should be holistic and there’s a wellness component, and that women should always be empowered. It was kind of prescient 115 years ago. You realize how much bias and sexism there was then and still is now.”

Amber Garrison, a 12-year veteran of the Esteé Lauder Cos., where she was global brand president of Origins, recently joined Revlon to run the Elizabeth Arden brand and the global fragrance portfolio. She’s an example of the kind of hire Peluso is looking for, energetic, high-powered and fast-moving with a wealth of ideas.

Revlon is consuming and analyzing new sources of data to make sure it’s evolving as quickly as consumers’ shopping habits change. It’s using AI to glean her preferences and ChatGBT and Agentic AI to streamline her shopping experience and give her more options faster.

“I have two teenagers so I can’t avoid TikTok,” Peluso said. “We have to keep evolving at the pace of the consumer. We’re doing all the work that we’re doing to ingest new sources of data and to make sure we’re monitoring and social-listening well, to make sure we’re evolving our tools as she shops, for the consumer.”

And it’s not just all about women. In men’s, an example is American Crew, a grooming brand Revlon acquired from the Colomer Group. “We’re seeing men more and more want that sort of camaraderie with their fellow men and not feel isolated,” Peluso said. “American Crew has always stood for salon-inspired products, but just as much, the essence of the barber shop where men can have real conversations with each other and feel this congenial environment.”

Peluso is stabilizing the business, reigniting brand relevance and laying the groundwork for success down the road. After emerging in May 2023 from bankruptcy, Revlon reduced its debt by over $2.7 billion and simplified its capital structure, but Peluso has her work cut out. Revlon faces macro-economic challenges and negative headwinds such as inflation, high interest rates and instability in the supply chain.

Revlon is no longer covered by Wall Street equity analysts. It’s now a private company, its publicly traded stock was delisted on the New York Stock Exchange.

“We’re looking intensely at understanding our consumers and figuring out what we can learn from them,” Peluso said. “One of the most important things for us as a company is to orient ourselves to the external wall and not just look internally. We’re intensely looking at retailers big and small and seeing what we can learn from them.”