“A significant step up” – Benefit Cosmetics names Ed Forrest as Worldwide Executive Vice President of Travel Retail

Ed ForrestBenefit Cosmetics CEO Jean Andre Rougeot has appointed Ed Forrest as Worldwide EVP of Travel Retail as part of what the LVMH-owned beauty house called “a significant step-up in focus on the travel retail channel”.

Forrest, widely respected across the beauty and travel retail sectors, has been with Benefit for eleven years as Regional Director for Asia Pacific, building up the brand from scratch in the region. He knows travel retail well, having worked earlier in the channel for nine years in the UK, Americas and Asia Pacific.

Forrest will continue to be based in Hong Kong. He is being replaced by Jacques Gouallou as Regional director Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.

While the operational and P&L responsibilities will remain with the markets, Forrest and his team will provide strategic support, manage global accounts and drive Benefit’s key priorities in what the company as identified as a key distribution channel.

In related news, Beatrice Charreire has been appointed VP Marketing and Business Development – Travel Retail, and Genie Tang named VP Retail Design and Visual Merchandising – Travel Retail.

The dynamic Charreire joined Benefit Cosmetics in September 2008 as GM for Hong Kong and served in this role until September 2014, when she became Global Travel Retail Director.

“Over the course of the past two-and-a-half years, Beatrice has made a valuable contribution to building the foundations of our global travel retail approach,” the company said. “In her new role, she will focus on optimising marketing plans and assortments and in driving education programmes as well as new initiatives. Bea will continue to look after the DFS global account.”

Benefit said: “This marks a significant step up in focus on the travel retail channel for Benefit Cosmetics where the brand is starting to expand its presence across the globe.”

Ed Forrest can be contacted at EdF@benefitcosmetics.com

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HOW A NIPPLE STAIN BECAME A GLOBAL PHENOMENON

Benefit started life as The Face Place, a make-up shop set up in 1976 by model twins Jean and Jane Ford as a fall-back plan for when their modelling days were over.

Legend has it that the first product they created was a skin tint made in their kitchen from rosebuds after an exotic dancer friend requested a nipple stain. That product became Benetint, now more commonly used as a lip and cheek tint, which still remains one of the company’s bestsellers.

The sisters primarily made products for themselves and this still works as the company’s ethos. “We are not a make-up artist brand, we are a beauty solution brand,” explains Charreire. “Girls have a beauty dilemma. We have a product to fake it – a quick fix.”

The company’s motto, or rather ‘Benefesto’, ‘Laughter is the best cosmetic”¦so grin and wear it!’, is reflected in its bold packaging, fun product names and light-hearted attitude.

The faces of the brand are not the latest top models but cartoonish pin-ups, actual dolls and characters such as POREfessional’s SpyGal.

However, what some may dismiss as gimmicky is underpinned by quality products that have proved themselves time and again. To take an example, ‘They’re Real’ Mascara is the product that transformed Benefit from a cult favourite to a global player by becoming the world’s biggest-selling mascara.

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