Despite his marketing prowess, John Demsey, executive group president of the Estée Lauder Cos., said that with MAC Cosmetics’ newest project, a podcast titled “The T-Zone,” “we’re not selling anything.”

“People find that arduous to consider,” he said.

As an alternative, the series focuses on the creators and innovators behind some of popular culture’s most recognizable moments, a passion point for Demsey who cohosts the series with MAC’s global creative director, Drew Elliott.

The series debuts on Jan. 28 with an episode featuring Dita Von Teese, while June Ambrose stars in episode two.

“The brand plays a much higher position within the arbitration of favor and taste and culture, and that’s why it rings,” Demsey said. “Why shouldn’t MAC, which has at all times been an element of popular culture and the conversation, be an arbiter of talking about beauty, trends, fashion and what’s happening on the earth, and never just be self-serving?”

As cohosts, Demsey and Elliott share their different vantage points, combining the previous’s encyclopedic knowledge of popular culture with the latter’s purview because the creative force behind the brand. “It’s to take the years of John constructing MAC and partnering that with my perspective being contained in the brand without delay, what we’re coming out with, all of the young stars and all of the cool kids,” Elliott said. “It’s so fun to listen to all of those spectacular guests mixed with all of the anecdotes at the middle of where all the pieces has began: celebrities, singers, rock stars. All of that involves life.”

The thought to create a podcast got here throughout the pandemic, which left Elliott and Demsey, like many, culturally and socially ravenous. “It was Drew’s sensible idea, which on the time gave the look of a wacky idea in a world where everybody’s talking about all the pieces on a regular basis,” Demsey said.

Episodes are intended to focus more on the abilities driving popular culture forward, reasonably than on product, and Demsey expects to audience to consist of “a community of like-minded people.”

“It levels as much as being embedded or being a part of the conversation, and being an element of the culture,” he said. “MAC has at all times had a way of playfulness and a way of naughtiness, and a little bit of an edge. I hope that this also reveals to those who corporations and types are greater than just things that you simply buy. There are real people, real stories and real conversations behind this stuff.”

Dita Von Teese, for instance, discusses her quarantine uniform (purchased from Amazon), her experience on “Dancing With the Stars” and what Pamela Anderson taught her about being a Viva Glam spokesperson.

The brand’s roster of collaborators, which ranges across disciplines to feature cultural icons, creatives and entertainers, offers fertile ground for future guests. “Historically, a number of the individuals who have been MAC folks are individuals who have their very own cosmetics lines without delay, whether it’s Rihanna, Lady Gaga or Ariana Grande. I view it as an incredible compliment,” Demsey said. “The following two [guests] are going to be a shock to everybody that they’d come onto a show for us.”

That being said, Demsey and Elliott have gone beyond the standard suspects, too, in relation to booking guests. “You wouldn’t think we might talk over with a few of the those who we do,” Elliott said. “That’s the important thing thing. That’s what’s expected of MAC — the unexpected.”

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