Estée Lauder Expands CTO Role to Drive AI-Powered Transformation

Estée Lauder has elevated Brian Franz to a newly expanded role as chief technology and transformation officer, signaling the beauty giant's commitment to technology-driven business reinvention. Franz, who joined the company 18 months ago as its first C-suite data and technology leader, will now spearhead enterprise-wide initiatives focused on revenue growth and productivity improvements.

The promotion comes as Estée Lauder executes a turnaround strategy called "Beauty Reimagined" under CEO Stephane de La Faverie. Two years ago, the Fortune 500 company faced criticism for lagging in digital transformation as consumer purchase patterns shifted online and to social media platforms.

Why it matters

Estée Lauder's aggressive AI deployment illustrates how legacy consumer brands are racing to modernize operations and customer experiences simultaneously. The company's approach—combining broad employee access to productivity tools with targeted manufacturing and product development applications—offers a blueprint for enterprise AI adoption that balances efficiency gains with revenue generation. As AI chatbots increasingly mediate product discovery, brands that master generative engine optimization early will gain significant competitive advantages in reaching consumers.

Deploying AI Across the Enterprise

Franz has equipped all 14,000 Estée Lauder employees with access to AI productivity tools including Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT. The company has also developed specialized applications: a "formula navigator" tool that improved product development efficiency by 20%, and "Ella" (Estée Lauder Line Assistant), which helps manufacturing operators troubleshoot equipment issues and reduce changeover times between production runs.

On the consumer side, Estée Lauder partnered with Google Cloud to launch an AI-powered scent advisor for its Jo Malone London brand. The company also works with Adobe to incorporate generative AI into digital marketing campaigns.

Preparing for AI-Mediated Shopping

Estée Lauder is partnering with Shopify to enable what the company calls "agentic" features—technology that helps brands get discovered on AI chatbots like Gemini and Claude. The M.A.C brand will be first to deploy this capability next month.

Franz acknowledged the company is still learning how to optimize for generative engine optimization (GEO), the tactics needed to ensure accurate product discovery across large language models. "The LLMs decipher what real consumers are saying, and what it is that they understand about the products we make," Franz said. "What we're focused on is that they find us in the LLMs, but then, within a click or two clicks, buy that product. It is still early."

Cultural Change Management

To accelerate adoption, Estée Lauder has implemented a "reverse mentor" model where younger employees who are early technology adopters teach senior leaders about new AI tools. The company has also designated AI champions within each of its more than 20 brands to drive usage and share best practices around building AI agents.

Franz previously held CIO roles at State Street, Diageo, and PepsiCo. His expanded mandate includes all technology efforts that can improve product formulation, demand forecasting, manufacturing operations, and worker productivity.

The transformation efforts appear to be yielding results. Estée Lauder's fiscal fourth-quarter results in August exceeded Wall Street expectations, driven by strong demand for luxury fragrances and skincare, with the company's annual profit forecast showing positive upside.

These details were first reported by Fortune in its CIO Intelligence newsletter.