When I was asked to build an employee advocacy program for L’Oréal from the ground up, I knew we had the right ingredients: passionate employees, great brand stories and a growing appetite for authenticity. But we also had a challenge: our people weren’t confident about sharing their work lives online. 

At a time when trust is earned more through people than through brands, that hesitation had real consequences. We know that employee content earns 8x more engagement than brand content, according to Forbes, and that it’s 58% more likely to attract top talent, according to LinkedIn. But on platforms like LinkedIn, where personal accounts dominate our feeds, our employees’ voices were a powerful yet underused asset.   

From zero to a global framework 

To activate that potential, we launched a global employee advocacy program powered by Sprinklr’s Advocacy solution and built on four key pillars: localization, technology empowerment, upskilling and data analytics. 

We designed a global framework with local execution, equipping each market with a playbook, local program managers and the freedom to adapt to regional culture and tone. This wasn’t about asking everyone to post. It was about inviting the right ambassadors — employees who either have a social presence or are looking to build one — and equipping them with the confidence, tools and support to do it well. 

We aligned the program with L’Oréal’s broader editorial calendar, trained ambassadors on our social media policy and best practices and created a strong feedback loop through data. Weekly KPI reviews and monthly collective meetings help us share learnings, fix gaps and continuously improve.

We also prioritized community animation over gamification. For us, it’s not about leaderboards. It’s about giving advocates meaningful experiences and celebrating their contributions through unique rewards like exclusive event access and experiences, not just swag.  

High visibility, high impact 

The program has strong executive sponsorship, including support at the CEO level, and has grown quickly. In 2024, we launched our pilot across 18 entities with over 900 ambassadors. Today, we’re aiming for 1,500 ambassadors by the end of 2025. 

But growth alone isn’t the story. The program is outperforming expectations, both in brand reach and bottom-line impact. 

In one year, from April 2024 to March 2025, L’Oréal’s advocates delivered over 12 million organic impressions, with high engagement and measurable ROI. Using industry benchmarks for earned media value (EMV), our estimated return is more than $200,000 in media value — impressions we didn’t have to pay for because our people chose to share our brand stories themselves.    

Advocacy as a reputation strategy 

Employee advocacy isn’t a campaign. It’s a culture shift. More than a marketing lever, employee advocacy is now part of how L’Oréal builds reputation — through transparency, trust and the authentic voices of our people. When done right, it’s not just about visibility. It’s about credibility.

We’re not finished. But the results so far prove that when employees feel supported, heard and inspired, they become our most effective brand advocates — and our most trusted messengers.