MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The “customer-first mindset” is a constant pledge marketers make ahead of any campaign, innovation, or endeavor, underlining their commitment to putting the customers’ needs at the core of all their efforts. This practice is no longer a mere trend or a revolutionizing advancement, but is now a requirement expected by customers in today’s incredibly competitive market.
Hence, it is truly remarkable when brands are able to take it one step further, refusing to settle for general market understanding, but striving to speak to consumers on a personal level — connecting to their specific needs, wants, and individual stories. This is the mission behind Unilever’s “beautech” innovations that are specially designed to focus on personalization, accuracy, and business effectiveness.
In this story, we deep dive into three specific initiatives of Unilever Philippines — highlighting how BeautyHub PRO, Pond’s Skin Advisor Live, and Cream Silk Hair Institute Profiler cement the company’s leadership in beauty technology and customer-centric innovation.
“Beautech” decoded: Consumers at the core
As the word suggests, “beautech” is all about beauty technology. Specifically, in Unilever’s case, it refers to the initiatives that empower customers to make more informed purchase decisions when it comes to skincare, hair care, and the like, with the assistance of various digital solutions.
One of these innovations is Unilever’s BeautyHub PRO platform, which combines the power of a selfie with artificial intelligence, and comes out with ultra-personalized product recommendations featuring different Unilever brands. Customers need only to answer a quick quiz and upload a selfie, then BeautyHub PRO’s “Computer Vision” AI technology will assess up to 30 visual data points and match it with specific products that cater to their hair or skin’s needs. This not only allows customers to understand their needs more, but also raises awareness for products and brands that they may not be familiar with, but are actually exactly what their skin or hair requires.
“Beauty Tech underscores the science behind our solutions, turning desire into confidence. It shows consumers that the right product — and the right regimen — has been tailored specifically to achieve their unique beauty goals,” remarked Wence Wenceslao, Digital Hub Lead for Beauty & Wellbeing SEA at Unilever.
Pond’s has also utilized beauty technology in solidifying its leadership position in the market with Pond’s Skin Advisor Live (SAL), a campaign launched in partnership with TikTok and TikTok Shop. The initiative built on the insight that consumers prefer vertical videos in researching and learning more about beauty products. With this, Pond’s launched an AI-powered skin analyzer on the TikTok platform to provide personalized skincare analyses and product recommendations to directly address consumer desire for simplified solutions, while making the products available for purchase in-app. SAL utilized TikTok’s beauty audience and TikTok Shop’s booming marketplace to boost reach, engagement, and conversion for the brand — further cementing its market leadership in a highly competitive industry on digital.
Hair care is another category that Unilever has invested heavily on to deliver more personalized and effective solutions to consumers, specifically with the Cream Silk brand. Through the Cream Silk Hair Institute Profiler, Unilever was able to connect with its consumers on a deeper level by empowering them with expert guidance, personalized hair care, and comprehensive solutions with an advanced and in-depth diagnostics tool. The Cream Silk Hair Institute Profiler assesses various hair attributes such as texture and damage level, to name a few, and ensures a customized hair care regimen. Through this initiative, Cream Silk is able to address its consumers’ common hair issues like frizz, dryness, and damage from styling by recommending specific products catered to each of these concerns.
On pioneering beauty technology solutions, Dani Medina, BeauTech Lead for Beauty & Wellbeing SEA Unilever, shared, “Our Beauty Tech focuses on creating personalized experiences where consumers lead. By understanding their needs and goals, we tailor our offerings to enhance their unique beauty journeys, driving tangible results and fostering empowerment.”
All three initiatives, on top of connecting more intimately with its consumers, have allowed the brands to reach bigger business outcomes, proving that beauty technology is the future in terms of marketing and consumer experience.
“With over 600,000 users in Southeast Asia, our Beauty Tech platforms are proving that personalization isn’t just a trend – it’s an evergreen component to beauty. Every interaction brings us closer to understanding and serving our consumers better,” noted Wence Wenceslao, furthering the company’s commitment to innovation in the name of customer-centricity.
Personalization wins
Many brands deep dive into understanding their customers through market research, focus group discussions, surveys and interviews. But for highly intimate categories like beauty, which is incredibly diverse as every individual’s skin and hair needs are different from the next, the usual forms of market research are simply not enough. One influencer’s perfect experience with a product does not guarantee the same experience for all.
Unilever’s “beautech” innovations, then, are a welcome addition to today’s hyper-personalized world as it narrows down product recommendations to present only the ones that a customer actually needs. It also lessens trial and error in establishing a beauty regimen, which often results to overconsumption and waste if purchased products turn out to be incompatible with one’s skin or hair type.
“Beauty Tech isn’t just about innovation — it’s about transforming the way people connect with beauty. By blending AI with our deep understanding of skin and hair, we’re creating experiences that are personal, purposeful, and empowering,” Wence explained.
Dani added, “With our consumers across Southeast Asia, we see a growing curiosity about AI. Our mission is to ensure consumers feel safe and confident using AI in their beauty routines.”
Ultimately, personalization is key in the beauty industry, and Unilever’s excellent use of technology, specifically the speed and accuracy of AI, has elevated the brand experiences it offers to consumers to be more direct to consumer and precise to their needs. This, therefore, strengthens brand equity and consumer relationship, and solidifies Unilever’s position as a leader in market innovations and experiences for many more years to come.
Experience the power of beauty technology and try out these beautech tools:
- BeautyHub PRO: https://www.allthingsbeauty.com/en-ph/beautyhub-pro/
- Pond’s Skin Advisor Line: https://www.allthingsbeauty.com/en-ph/ponds-ai-skin-expert/
- Cream Silk Hair Institute Profiler: https://www.allthingsbeauty.com/en-ph/creamsilk-hair-institute/
