L?Oreal wants to be a leader in the next generation of mobile innovation for the beauty sector by helping startups Cast Beauty and MikMak build their businesses. 

L?Oréal is looking to establish a community of entrepreneur women in digital and partner with them and their respective companies to create inventive experience on mobile to further its brand in the space. While beauty brands are leaning more towards mobile to connect with consumers, L?Oreal is looking to be a front-runner in leveraging the technology. 

?With an increasing number of our core consumers integrating mobile into all aspect of their lives, L?Oreal is constantly working on new experiences to engage our audience and build brand awareness,? said Rachel Weiss, Vice President of Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship at L?Oréal USA and chair of L?Oréal USA Women in Digital. ?Over the past four years, the L?Oreal Women in Digital Program has helped us build a community of over 2,000 female led start-ups that continue to help drive innovation. 

?Many of these companies are specifically founded with a mission to deliver the most creative mobile products,? she said. ?Having direct access to these technologies helps L?Oreal build the best content and experiences for our consumers.?

The beauty brand believes that the women it has picked for the 2015 Next Generation Award winners will revolution the mobile and digital experience, and is quick to partner with them to be able to leverage their capabilities. This year?s winners are Sian Morson, Katherine Ryder and Rachel Tipograph, founders and CEOs of Cast Beauty, Maven and MikMak respectively. 

Ms. Morson?s Cast Beauty is a mobile application, which serves recommendations to users for hair and skin products based on weather data. Maven is a digital platform for women to access for healthcare insurance information, while MikMak is mobile app serving as a video shopping network.

This is L?Oreal?s third year of the Next Generation Awards, and has been able to connect with beauty fans over its innovations in the mobile space in part to the program it has built. The initiative also helps create a positive brand image by supporting the movement to empower women and lessen the work place divide between genders. 

L'Oreal Paris also inviting fans to enter a contest to become the brand's guest social media editor, an attempt to connect more with millennials and leverage their insight (see more).

The beauty brand is looking to connect with millennials with these innovations and is on the right track. For instance, with recent research showing that fun experiences are key to loyalty for millennials, savvy marketers such as Sephora, Pepsi and Target are leveraging mobile to bring elements of gaming, social media and relevant content for more enjoyable programs (see more). 

?This year?s winners coincide with these efforts in that these are all ideas that couldn?t scale without mobile technology and address the products our consumers desire, whether it is shopping, having a consultation with a doctor, or getting personalized beauty recommendations,? Ms. Weiss said. ?L?Oreal is thrilled to be potentially partnering with such innovative companies that understand the importance of mobile while supporting and empowering women in technology.?