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The Future of Beauty Tech: Franziska Eickhoff on AI, Ethics, and Consumer-Centric Data

Franziska Eickhoff is the Chief Data & Analytics Officer at L'Oréal DACH. With 12 years of experience in the energy sector, she has built a strong foundation in data and analytics, along with transformation and marketing expertise. Now, she leads L'Oréal's data and analytics team in the DACH region, focusing on consumer-centric insights, innovative beauty tech, and breaking down data silos to drive business success

In advance of her appearance at CDAO Frankfurt, we sat down with Franziska Eickhoff, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at L'Oréal DACH. With 12 years of experience in the energy sector and a passion for innovation, Franziska brings a unique perspective to the beauty industry, where consumer-centric data and AI play a crucial role in shaping creative and personalized experiences.

In this exclusive interview, Franziska shares insights on the challenges and opportunities of leveraging AI in a highly emotional and personal industry like beauty. She discusses the balance between creativity and data-driven decision-making, the importance of ethical AI, and how L'Oréal is breaking down data silos to deliver real-time agility and hyper-personalization.

Register now for CDAO Frankfurt to hear directly from Franziska Eickhoff and other industry leaders about the future of data, AI, and innovation in the beauty industry and beyond.

 

C: Having worked in different sectors, what kind of differences have you noticed in the challenges you face in data and analytics between beauty and other industries?

Franziska Eickhoff: One of the most striking differences is the intensely personal and emotional nature of consumer preferences in beauty. While data is crucial in all industries, in beauty it’s about understanding individual aspirations, cultural nuances, and personal definitions of beauty.

The biggest difference lies in the type of data - energy deals with structured, machine-generated data, while in personal care, the data is much more diverse, ranging from retail sales and e-commerce behavior to media attribution and even makeup shades. This requires different analytical skills and tools.

C: Do you find that your data and analytics practice is more customer-focused now compared to your previous roles? How does that shift impact your creative thinking?

Franziska Eickhoff: Yes, AI is helping us become more creative. In my previous industry, data was used primarily for optimizing processes. Here, we’re dealing with real products and consumers who are passionate about their brands. We have large media assets and campaigns to optimize, which provides more room for creativity. The focus isn’t just on modernizing processes but on bringing the next exciting product to market that resonates with diverse customers.

C: In an industry where consumer preferences are highly emotional and personal, how do you balance creativity and innovation with a rigorous data-driven approach?

Franziska Eickhoff: At L’Oréal, we see data and creativity as complementary forces. Data empowers creativity, rather than stifling it. By understanding consumer preferences and trends through data, we can fuel more targeted and effective creative campaigns. AI becomes a tool for creative exploration, not a replacement for human ingenuity. 

 

Franziska Eickhoff

 

C: That leads nicely into what you'll be speaking about at CDAO Frankfurt, focused on ethical AI and the impact of explainable AI on business trust. How do you define ethical AI in the context of your work at L'Oréal?

Franziska Eickhoff: Ethical AI is about ensuring human oversight throughout the entire AI lifecycle. At L'Oréal, we believe that true beauty enhances what makes us unique, not replaces it. Our AI strategy focuses on empowering our teams, not substituting them.

From the start, we embed ethical considerations into AI development, prioritizing transparency, fairness, and avoiding bias, especially given our diverse customer base. We're also committed to never using AI-generated faces, skin, or hair in our advertisements because we want to build trust by being transparent.

C: What steps do you take to ensure that your AI work, whether it’s recommendations or something else, is free of bias, especially given L'Oréal's diverse customer base?

Franziska Eickhoff: Yes, with a diverse customer base built over 100 years, we prioritize using diverse datasets to minimize bias. Without diverse data, explainable AI models aren't possible. It’s crucial for us to understand how AI arrives at decisions, which is why we maintain a human review process throughout. 

This alignment with our ethical guidelines ensures that AI at L'Oréal is always human-augmented, not AI alone.

For us, AI helps augment creativity and frees up our employees to focus on what they do best — connecting with customers on an emotional level. AI will never fully replace that human connection, which is why we use it to free up time for what matters most: being consumer-centric, emotional, and creative. 

C: What within your industry or job really makes you passionate? Even if it’s not something commonly talked about, what do you personally get pleasure from in your work?

Franziska Eickhoff: To be honest, at a global powerhouse like L'Oréal with 37 brands, each with their own beliefs and core values, my passion is about democratizing data across the organization. Breaking down silos and empowering every team — from marketing to supply chain — with data-driven insights is essential for success. 

For me, data literacy is no longer a "nice to have"; it’s a must-have. In a company where everyone is focused on their brand, but we’re also a global player, we need to scale our knowledge and bring people together. So, my passion lies in breaking those data silos.

C: Looking ahead to the next 12 months, what do you think will be the top three trends or key areas people will be talking about in the industry?

Franziska Eickhoff: First, generative AI will play a key role in enhancing creativity, from product development to packaging design and content creation. 

Second, unified data for real-time agility will be crucial. Breaking down data silos and achieving a single view of the customer will allow us to deliver hyper-personalized experiences and make real-time decisions. 

Finally, predictive analytics will become increasingly important. Moving from descriptive to predictive analytics will enable businesses to anticipate future trends and optimize operations.

C: Lastly, looking ahead, what do you think will be the top three challenges your colleagues will be discussing around roundtables in the coming 12 months?

Franziska Eickhoff: The first challenge is bias mitigation. This should be our top priority —ensuring fairness and inclusivity by bringing every nuance of human intelligence into our AI models. 

This will require a lot of testing and refinement. The second challenge is transparency and explainability. We need to build trust in AI by making it understandable and transparent. Without that, people will rely on gut feelings or never fully trust AI decisions, especially when they can’t tell the difference between real and AI-generated content. 

Finally, data privacy and security will remain a critical challenge, especially in the DACH region. Navigating the complex landscape of data privacy while maintaining consumer trust is absolutely key for us.

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Click here to register now for CDAO Frankfurt to hear directly from Franziska and other top professionals in Germany about the future of data, analytics, and AI