Givaudan and TMIC’s AI Creatogether enables Chinese brands to digitally create fragrances
14 Oct 2022 --- Givaudan, in partnership with China-based Tmall Innovation Centre (TMIC), is launching Creatogether, an artificial intelligence (AI) powered human-to-machine co-creation service for customers to “realize” their olfactory vision using the Chinese e-commerce market.
“Our co-creation model allows brands to get deeply involved in fragrance creation. Thanks to a visual touch screen, customers can quickly realize their olfactory vision,” shares Yaling Li, head of Greater China and Korea fragrances at Givaudan.
“The interactive process is carried out in close collaboration with our perfumers, harnessing the latest data insights from TMIC and the creative capacities of Carto.”
On Carto, Givaudan explains that the AI service enables perfumers to deliver an idea almost as soon as they dream of it. 
Creatogether brings the perfumers’ vision into reality quickly.
“This intuitive and interactive system functions like a game, making centuries’ worth of research available in a flash. Firstly, the perfumer uses a wide touchscreen to select which raw materials they wish to mix. A special robot then produces an instant sample, using real ingredients and the best possible formula, at a speed that would be impossible using traditional methods,” says the company.
Leveraging B2C AI
The Swiss company has worked with Tmall, Alibaba group’s open business-to-consumer platform, since June 2021. The collaboration moved toward combining Givaudan’s creative fragrance solutions and production capabilities with T-Lab’s consumer behavior data capabilities.
As a result, Creatogether was designed to leverage the updated version of TLAB 2.0, using TMIC’s olfactory culture map and Carto, Givaudan’s AI-powered fragrance assistant.
“We support Givaudan in developing this co-creation service for the fragrance industry. Our common goal is to bring agile solutions to the market by connecting consumer insights with industry knowledge and expertise to provide users with instant, accurate and personalized fragrance products,” says Tian Qi, head of Tmall Innovation Centre.
Five steps toward actualizing
Creatogether allows Givaudan to offer Chinese customers human-to-machine fragrance co-creation in five steps.
The first begins with a “creative ideation phase with in-depth research and analysis,” followed by an olfactive visual exploration on screen.
Creatogether also offers the customer a launch strategy and marketing plan.
Then the digital fragrance co-creation with the AI offers an instant sampling technology, after which the commercialized fragrance is submitted. Lastly, the new product is validated along with a launch strategy and marketing plan.
Industry is shifting
The beauty and personal care space is witnessing an increasing array of AI-powered solutions.
In June, Symrise unveiled AI Philyra 2.0, which equips perfumers with a creative and environmentally sustainable tool to formulate perfumes. This updated technology aimed to enable brands to produce renewable and biodegradable alternatives while encouraging experimentation and speeding up production.
Recently, Coralai, a multi-brand digital skincare retailer, was built in partnership between Corpus Group, Revieve and Clientela. The platform utilizes Skin Coach, Revieve’s latest development that pairs shoppers with products, routines, services and professionals through computer vision, AI and smart booking for in-person and virtual video appointments.
Revive also released a complete metaverse playbook for beauty brands to take full advantage of virtual spaces. The report outlines the future of the metaverse and discusses how personal care companies should navigate it.
Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO at L’Oréal, recently shared how the company utilizes the digital space well and continues to lead and incorporate beauty tech as a competitive advantage.
By Venya Patel
