L'Oréal Rehires Social Strategist Hans Neubert From Charles & Charlotte
TL;DR: L'Oréal has rehired social-media strategist Hans Neubert, who is leaving consultancy Charles & Charlotte after 18 months — a small move that reflects a big trend: brands pulling social and creative expertise back in-house.
The move
Social-media strategist Hans Neubert is departing consultancy Charles & Charlotte after around 18 months to rejoin L'Oréal, according to Horizont. The beauty giant is bringing a senior social specialist back onto its own team.
Individual moves like this rarely make headlines, but the direction of travel does. When a brand as sophisticated as L'Oréal chooses to own senior social talent rather than rent it, it says something about where the value in social marketing now sits.
Why brands are in-housing social
Social media moves too fast for the traditional agency cycle. Trends emerge and die in days, and brands increasingly feel they need social expertise embedded in-house — close to the product, able to react in real time — rather than briefed through an external partner.
Beauty is at the sharp end of this. The category lives on TikTok and Instagram, where speed, cultural fluency and constant output matter more than polished set-piece campaigns. Owning that capability is becoming a competitive necessity, not a cost saving.
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This is the ongoing rebalancing between in-house and agency. Fast, always-on disciplines like social and community are drifting in-house, while agencies retain the big strategic and creative set pieces. The smart model is a blend, not an either/or.
For talent, it signals healthy fluidity — people moving between brand-side and consultancy, carrying knowledge both ways. For brands, the lesson is to own the capabilities that need to move at the speed of culture, and partner for the ones that need scale and craft.
What businesses can take from it
Decide deliberately what to own and what to outsource. Fast, reactive, always-on work like social usually belongs closer to home; big strategic and production efforts are often better partnered out.
And value the people who can move at the speed of culture. In social-first categories, embedded expertise that reacts in real time is worth more than an external process that takes days to turn around.
Quick FAQ
What is the Hans Neubert move?
Social strategist Hans Neubert is leaving consultancy Charles & Charlotte after around 18 months to rejoin L'Oréal, per Horizont.
Why does it matter?
It reflects a wider trend of brands, especially in beauty, bringing fast-moving social and creative expertise back in-house.
Should everything move in-house?
No — the smart model blends owning always-on disciplines like social with partnering agencies for big strategic and creative set pieces.
Social moves too fast for the traditional agency cycle, so brands are pulling that expertise in-house — especially in beauty, which lives on TikTok and Instagram. The smart model is a blend: own the capabilities that must move at the speed of culture, and partner for the ones that need scale and craft. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Fast, always-on disciplines like social are drifting in-house while agencies keep the big set pieces — the winning model is a deliberate blend, owning what must move at the speed of culture and partnering for scale.
What do you keep in-house versus outsource — and is social close enough to your product? Tell us.
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Horizont.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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