**New York**: Colgate-Palmolive is advancing its use of generative AI to improve productivity and drive innovation. The integration includes synthesising consumer insights and developing new products, with a focus on responsible AI usage and employee training for effective application in marketing and product development.
Colgate-Palmolive, the renowned consumer products corporation with a history spanning over 200 years, is significantly advancing its integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance operational productivity and fuel innovation. The company, known for its data-driven approach, is now embracing generative AI to leverage its vast consumer insights and analytics.
Diana Schildhouse, Colgate-Palmolive’s chief analytics and insights officer, emphasised the company’s intent, stating, “We didn’t want to simply dabble in various aspects of generative AI — it’s all about driving value.” The company has identified key enterprise objectives, focusing on innovation and marketing content creation as areas with quantifiable business benefits.
Colgate-Palmolive employs generative AI to synthesise consumer insights swiftly. This technology extends beyond basic data retrieval; it utilises retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) content, which allows the AI to delve into proprietary research, Google search trends, and industry-specific data. The result is an efficient mechanism for employees to obtain instant answers to business queries by simply typing prompts, rather than sifting through extensive research materials. The system also provides citations for the sources consulted, enhancing transparency.
In recent months, Colgate-Palmolive has focused on utilising generative AI to bolster its innovation processes. Kli Pappas, senior director of predictive analytics and global head of AI at the company, stated, “We wanted to use AI to grow the business, not just drive efficiencies.” The integration of AI allows for creative concepts to be generated swiftly, and with human oversight, it aids in developing new product ideas, such as flavours of toothpaste. Employees can now produce marketing copy and imagery for new concepts in a matter of minutes, thus broadening the potential for new product development.
One of the more innovative strategies involves the creation of “digital consumer twins.” These virtual models provide invaluable insights into how real consumers might respond to new product concepts, thereby allowing Colgate-Palmolive to efficiently test numerous ideas simultaneously. Initial comparisons between virtual and real consumer feedback have shown a high degree of alignment, indicating that AI-generated concepts can be just as effective, if not better, than those developed solely by human teams.
With a commitment to responsible AI usage, Colgate-Palmolive has established an AI Hub that allows employees to access internal versions of popular large language models (LLMs) and image-generating tools, all securely within corporate parameters. Access to this hub comes with mandatory AI training, which covers essential principles, including the importance of maintaining human oversight and proper prompt crafting.
Tracking the effectiveness of AI usage within the organisation has become a priority. The AI Hub features built-in measures to assess the value generated by its applications, capturing user feedback and performance metrics. Thousands of employees have reported enhancements in their output quality and creativity as a result of engaging with AI tools.
While the current applications of generative AI primarily support individual productivity and experimentation, Colgate-Palmolive aims to harness these technologies for more substantial outcomes, such as market research and concept generation. The ongoing evolution of its AI strategy appears poised to influence both the company and the broader consumer products sector moving forward.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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