Data behind AI, machine learning, and the new Unilever launch

At the center of Unilever's Growth Action Plan It is our job to put excellent brands into the hands of consumers and brighten up everyday life for people all over the world. Science and Technology helps us do just that, empowering our team to innovate, create and ultimately promote business growth.

Meet two women leading the charges. Dr. Sam Samaras is the SVP of R&D Science and Technology in Personal Care. Tiffany Yizar is head of R&D for North American beauty and welfare business.

Here they discuss how AI, machine learning and big data are shaping the future of our products.

Find a butterfly

Sam: In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the concept that small changes can cause unpredictable outcomes. A butterfly flaps its wings on one side of the world, causing a hurricane thousands of miles away. Our AI technology allows us to interrogate complex biological data and find “butterflies” that allow us to invent new technologies.

Tiffany: that's right. Discoveries such as machine learning and AI allow you to unpack and explore huge datasets in ways that are impossible to ever happen. We apply the type of technology that was originally invented to predict weather, global financial fluctuations, etc., but we use it to better understand the human body.

Sam: Unilever has always been a pioneer when it comes to science, but there have been exponential changes in the way we can understand the complexity of the past five or ten years. In the past, we may have had to run 1,000 experiments to obtain the data needed for the new components. Now you can do just a small part of that. Machine learning helps to model the rest mathematically using very sophisticated statistical methods. It means that time can be freed for creativity that only the human mind can bring.

Future Products for Growing Demography

Tiffany: The work we do Polycultural Centre of Excellence (PCOE) is a great example. We know that products designed for melanin-rich skin are a major growth opportunity for our beauty and happiness brands, and this is an important strategic segment for Unilever in North America.

PCOE is fully focused on researching and capturing data on melanin-rich skin tones, textured hair, and what consumers in these underserved cohorts really want to need in their products. But our amazing technology is just as good as the data below. Therefore, we confirm that we are experts in this field.

Sam: What's exciting is that we use modern measurement techniques in our clinical design to help you understand this extremely important, growing demographic.

We are using new technologies to solve more about hair and skin biology, and our findings have already entered into products like vaseline radiation X from pigeon and shea moisture that are distinguished to meet the needs of consumers.

Microbiome technology for whole body deodorant

Tiffany: Another fast-growing area from our personal care business is whole-body deodorant. We launched the Full Body Deo product under the moisture brands of Dove, Lexonna, Dabmen+Care and Shea. If Unilever has a great scientific advantage here, in understanding skin microbiomes, we have one of the world's largest microbiome data.

Sam: That's right. Unilever is building one of the world's largest deodorizer businesses, so we know a lot about Arm Dower Arm Sweat and Arm Underar sweat. However, understanding the physiology and biology of whole body odor is completely different.

With a vast amount of microbiome data that can be mined using AI and other technologies, you can examine how sweat and moisture affect other areas of the body, such as under the breast, intimate areas, or on the back. It means that we can design products that will help prevent moisture in those places, making people feel comfortable and confident. We are creating bespoke technology that really works to deliver great growth opportunities, both for the moisture and odor throughout our body.

Nanotechnology and Premium Products

Sam: One of my favorite products created using sophisticated digital tools is Unilever's patented microromyist with Dove's new Serum Shower Collection™ technology. This is an example of how to promote a product to add a premium edge by providing something that is clearly superior to consumers and is desirable to use.

Tiffany: We developed MicroMoisture™ using nanotechnologyand creates a formula with tiny drops of moisture, just the right size to stay on your skin for a long time, even after showering, making your skin feel wonderfully silky.

The process engineering team, who manufactures products only on the Unilever site, is highly digitally enabled. Our plants are fully integrated and we are sure we can produce this complex formula. Unilever is the only place.™ It's been made. It is totally unique to our brand.

Frontier of science

Sam: Biology is endlessly complex. Only machines enabled by AI have a wide range of computing power so that in a few minutes, you can attract huge, different datasets and learn new things from them.

It's not just about saving time. It allows us to do things we couldn't do before.