Adelyne Cazot
A Passion for Prominent Brands

Adelyne, you hail from Brittany, and yet from the get-go your own personal journey bears an international hallmark. Can you tell us about your roots?

I was raised in Gomené, a small commune in the Côtes-d’Armor department in central Brittany. However, I actually have dual heritage: I am a Breton woman who was born in Brazil, in Fortaleza, from where my parents adopted me while I was still a baby. This dual identity has always been at the very heart of my story. I have a brother and a sister, also adopted, the former from Brazil too, and the latter from Vietnam. My parents have always spoken openly about our origins in a very natural manner. My father built his career in farming, and was at the head of a large agricultural holding. My mother helped him with the administrative side of the business. They moved with the times, had an openness to the outside world, and tremendous business acumen without which I would never have become the person I am today.

Despite this agricultural background, you greatly admire, for what reasons did you become aware, very early on, that you weren’t destined to remain there?

I grew up by livestock farms. I worked on them at times, but felt that when I became an adult I’d find my place elsewhere. Early doors, I felt drawn to large cities. Since secondary school, I’ve been interested in trends and fashion. I enjoyed standing out, and asserting my uniqueness. While I take immense pride in everything my parents accomplished, I knew that my own journey would take place somewhere else and in a different professional setting. My mother still recalls: at secondary school, she tells me, all I ever talked about was L’Oréal for cosmetics, or Chanel and Dior for luxury goods! What appealed to me was the power of storytelling and the image these brands represented in my eyes. Since my teenage years, my goal has been to work for them. What’s more, at college, I used to sketch and paint, and found artistic activities highly motivating.

In 2006, you enrolled at the EAC business school, (l’École Atlantique de Commerce de Nantes), for what is now the Audencia Bachelor. Why did you choose this school?

The lightbulb moment came thanks to a friend of mine who had enrolled at the EAC. She told me how great the teaching was, and about the possibility of accessing the world of work through internships, and especially about her stay in the U.S. that fired my imagination. I sat the entrance exam and got in. At the start, I experienced a bit of culture shock when brushing shoulders with students from different walks of life. However, this was also highly enriching: it wasn’t long before I met some people with whom I struck up some beautiful friendships and I’m still very close with them to this day. As regards the teaching practices, I was struck by the quality of the professors of practice who arrived with their specific know-how, concrete examples, and who made us project ourselves into real-world professions.

Were you still intending to one day work for iconic names in fashion and the luxury field, like L’Oréal or Chanel?

Yes, more so than ever. At the EAC, I honed my project management skills in particular. I already loved organising events and now this was stepped up a notch. I was forever working on putting on social events, finding venues and caterers, as well as anticipating things down to the last detail to create moments for people to come together. I wanted to combine this operational rigor with luxury elegance. Though my initial internships didn’t allow me to come into contact with this world or the major advertising agencies in Paris, as I would have liked, I did however manage to gain some early experience in events management in a cutting-edge sector, namely video games, in Paris.

Your educational path was marked by an enriching experience in the United States. How instrumental was this?

I went to Virginia for six months, to Shenandoah University. At 21 years of age, experiencing life on an American campus, becoming part of the soccer team, and learning to become autonomous far from all you know, is rather exhilarating. I was quite near to New York so could make regular trips there and soak up the city’s vibe. In my third year, I completed this study path with an internship in marketing at AXA in Barcelona. Working in such a structured environment, though this wasn’t in fashion or luxury, enabled me to get to grips with the workings of a major international company.

After your bachelor’s degree from Audencia, you decide to follow this up with a Grandes Écoles master’s at Inseec. How did this choice come about?

I didn’t feel quite ready to launch into the world of work. I had the impression that my internships hadn’t yet given me all the keys required to access my dream jobs. I felt the need to broaden my knowledge. So, I opted for the Master in Business and Marketing. I carried out my end-of-studies internship at Publicis, where I worked on the Renault account. Working alongside creatives, and managing customer relations across a wide range of communication channels, proved to be just the ticket.

You entered the workforce via the main door of advertising, at Fred & Farid…

After graduating, and then some time temping, the Fred & Farid agency offered me an assignment which very quickly turned into a permanent contract. This was the go-to ad agency of the day in Paris, the one winning all the awards and that the entire profession had in its sights. We were a young team, living and breathing our agency work, socialising together, etc. We shared a common desire to break new ground. I witnessed the beginnings of the digital revolution and worked on accounts for brands such as Guerlain, Etam, Diesel and Cacharel, in other words, for these last two brands, for L’Oréal… My long-cherished dream was finally at my fingertips!

So, is this when you realised the digital world would be your career playground?

Without question! I found the digital world fascinating since it’s constantly evolving. There’s never a dull moment, and always new ideas to seek out. I wasn’t particularly trained in this field, yet I learned on the job by becoming part of our agency’s digital department. One of the high points for me was setting up live streams for the Etam shows. At the time, this was revolutionary and a real revelation for me. I stayed at Fred & Farid for three years, working in the fast lane. I learned a great deal there.

Following a stint at the McCann advertising agency, you took your next step towards working for a marketer, in this instance the Accor group. Were you in search of more stability?

At McCann, I worked on global campaigns for Nespresso Worldwide, especially the one everyone knows, featuring George Clooney. This was inspiring, but when Nespresso decided to change agency, I seized on the opportunity to reflect on where my career was headed, and try to embark on a new chapter in my career by going to work for a brand. It wasn’t so much the stability driving my decision but rather a need, that had been niggling for a long time, to craft a long-term career narrative, out of affection for the luxury brand identity. The world of agencies is an incredible school, but I couldn’t picture myself spending my whole career there. I joined the Accor group to handle the luxury brands such as Fairmont, Raffles and Sofitel. This was a key stage in gaining this luxury “badge” at this leading international group. Here, I learned to collaborate across many different departments, in an environment which had more stable and substantial processes.

Then along came Lacoste. Would you say this is where your career took on a pivotal strategic dimension?

I was 30 years old and still feeling this draw towards the world of fashion. I saw a job ad for Lacoste and it was as if it had been written with me in mind. I was recruited for a new post being set up in digital marketing. The brand was launching its first e-commerce website and had to bridge the gap between the digital business team and the marketing team, which didn’t speak the same language. I laid the foundations in terms of their digital branding, streamlining the processes, and raised the bar for communication across the digital channels. Eight months later, I was appointed manager, and was able to hire and run my own team of digital brand managers. I orchestrated Lacoste’s global digital ecosystem, where I managed to successfully merge their creative vision and business performance.  So yes, as Global Head of Marketing & Digital Branding at Lacoste, my trajectory took on a major turn.

You remained there for eight years. Yet leaving wasn’t an easy process…

Following my maternity leave, after having my second child, my return to work didn’t go as planned and so I decided to move to pastures new. I quickly bounced back, in the music industry, working at Believe. I found working on their 360-degree brand awareness interesting, but I realised that the B2B issues and the product itself didn’t fire my passion. Yet this was a necessary time of self-reconstruction and transition. This experience enabled me to understand that I’m passionate about operating in a world in which brands radiate an authentic aura, where storytelling is strong, and where creativity expresses itself right through to digital experiences. This is what naturally fuels my passion, projecting myself into the field of cosmetics which aligns perfectly with these aspirations.

Today, you are embarking on a new adventure at Puig. What are your plans?

I joined this Spanish cosmetic group for a time, heading up their global digital experience for prestigious brands including Jean Paul Gaultier and Rabanne. This offers an inspiring gateway into this sector. For the time being, I’m focussing on digital platforms, but my goal is to quickly return to branding and pure communication. I sense things are moving onwards and upwards, I’m growing my network and am confident I’ll reach my goals.

It’s also with a view to empowering other women in reaching their goals that you founded the Rise Society, a club for women leaders in the making.

Absolutely! This has been a project dear to my heart for some time now. Getting to where you want to be is never straightforward, especially when you’re a woman. We tend to undervalue ourselves and rule out applying for jobs if we don’t tick 100% of the boxes. I’ve noticed there are many clubs for women entrepreneurs and top executive women leaders, and yet nothing for women in middle management across marketing, the digital world, and communications. Frequently highly invested in their work, these women don’t accord themselves the time to grow from other experiences. The Rise Society is a sisterhood space for discussing things together, sharing on everyday topics, and inspiring one another through the career journeys of people who have made it. The aim here is to forge strong links so we can all rise together, boost our confidence levels, and dare to set our sights higher. The survey I carried out on LinkedIn confirmed there’s a massive interest.