Unilever invests €100M for in-house fragrance creation driven by digital and AI technology

Unilever is investing €100 million (US$104.99 million) to build a fragrance house powered by digital and AI technologies. The move will enhance the consumer goods company’s fragrance design and creation capabilities across its global portfolio.

Vivek Sirohi, VP of Fragrance at Unilever tells Personal Care Insights that fragrance plays a vital role in personal care products. “Fragrances allow us to deliver benefits to the consumer, such as being microbiome-friendly, enhancing mood and controlling malodor. Fragrances also enhance the perceived performance or efficacy of the product. For example, fragrances can cue ‘clean’ in home care products or sweat protection in deodorant products.” 

The digital-first fragrance creation house will support Unilever’s strategy to accelerate growth and increase productivity by granting increased control of the design and refinement of its fragrances, a “key component of product formulation and consumer preference.”

Growing its in-house capability allows Unilever to identify and respond to fragrance trends by accelerating product creation, formulation, design, manufacturing and launching to market, says the company.

The FMCG giant has historically partnered with fragrance houses worldwide to create its scents. These partnerships will remain and Unilever will transition to a hybrid model.

“There are significant advantages to be obtained from evolving to a hybrid approach wherein we bring fragrance creation expertise inside Unilever combined with our in-house product, brand and consumer knowledge,” explains Sirohi. 

“For this, we would continue to work alongside strategic external Fragrance Houses. It will make us better partners to our fragrance partners resulting in less re-work and less complexity while strengthening our ability to create our world-class fragrances to enhance our offering to the consumers.”

Neuroscience and digital solutions

Unilever promises to combine its experience in neuroscience, AI and digital product development with existing strategic partnerships. It will use neuroscience techniques to understand how fragrances impact mood and “measurably improve emotional well-being.”

“Fragrance is a key driver of liking for most FMCG products. It plays an invaluable role in signaling uniqueness, brand equity, driving unmissable product superiority and consumer choice and loyalty. Creating a thoughtfully balanced fragrance involves using many ingredients to make a product smell ‘just right’ for the right consumer experience,” says Sirohi.

Unilever moves its fragrance manufactering to a hybrid model. The perfumers will combine aromatic ingredients from a palette of 1,000 possible raw ingredients to create fragrance formulas.

The company is recruiting perfumers in the UK, US and India to work with its global portfolio of brands. It has already begun hiring members for its international team to focus on fragrance creation, evaluation, measurement, testing and data analytics.

“From an R&D perspective, we will be able to increase efficiency and simplicity through greater control and insight behind the highly complex fragrance formulation process, and be able to integrate fragrance development more holistically into our product development journey to streamline the process,” says Sirohi.

“We will also be able to enhance our ability to meet sustainability and compliance goals, without compromising on quality or superiority.”

Unilever’s AI

Unilever brand Pond’s Skin Institute previously launched AI Skin Expert in Indonesia and the Philippines. The AI technology examines users’ selfies and conducts a skin analysis to identify and understand consumers’ skin care concerns.

In hair care, Unilever brand Dove has launched a virtual AI-powered Scalp + Hair Therapist, an interactive diagnostic tool accessible via Dove’s website. Dove also released a Serum Shower Collection earlier this month that delivers active skin care ingredients to answer the consumer demand for body washes that deliver skin care benefits.