LAS VEGAS\u2014Having long attended CES in the partner mode, Procter & Gamble chose this year to be an exhibitor at what Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard dubs the \u201cconsumer experience show.\u201d It\u2019s where the company is showcasing some of the technologically advanced products that have emerged from the approximately 130 internal \u201cseed-stage startups\u201d that the 181-year-old marketing giant has developed over the past few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we want to do is use technology to be able to make everyday life just a little bit better with our everyday household and personal care products,\u201d Pritchard says in this interview with Beet.TV at the annual CES<\/a> event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe studied Silicon Valley because what we knew we needed to do is we needed to move faster. We knew technology was disrupting everything,\u201d he says. \u201cThat has spawned this portfolio of seed-stage experiments that are now starting to get into the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the innovations P&G has on display in Las Vegas is a Gillette razor blade that heats up in about a second, a smart Oral B toothbrush that visually guides one through optimal teeth cleaning and the Opt\u00e9 Precision Skincare system, as Advertising Age reports<\/a>. Opt\u00e9 uses a digital camera to help determine the right amount of makeup to apply, which is about 5% \u201cof the normal foundation,\u201d Pritchard notes. \u201cSo your skin looks natural without all that makeup.\u201d<\/p>\n P&G has access to some 275,000 startups, according to Pritchard<\/a>, although it doesn\u2019t work with all of them. The 130 startups are under the aegis of P&G Ventures.<\/p>\n At the retail level, P&G is showcasing the future of beauty retailing in the form of the SK-II Future X Smart Store, which launched in Tokyo in May 2018 and then in Shanghai and Singapore. It\u2019s built around the concept of merging the physical and digital retail environment, beginning with a face scan in a booth that produces five key metrics for specific skin-care treatment, as CNET writes<\/a>.<\/p>\n The overarching goal is to provide \u201cirresistible superiority\u201d over competitors.<\/p>\n With Olay Skin Advisors, users take a selfie and then technology \u201cdiagnoses your skin\u2019s age versus your actual age, which is a frightening experience by the way,\u201d says Pritchard.<\/p>\n He hopes P&G is setting examples for other marketers looking to operate as though they were startups as opposed to big, established legacy companies. At CES, he participated in a panel discussion with P&G Chief Research, Development and Innovation Officer Katy Fish<\/a>, with whom Pritchard is \u201cjoined at the hip. It\u2019s not a silo anymore between R&D and marketing. It is an integrated teamwork to create the experiences, and that\u2019s what I suggest other people do.\u201d<\/p>\n