Soul Machines - SK-II (A Procter & Gamble Company) Customer Success Story
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BayCreativeSoul Machines - SK-II (A Procter & Gamble Company) Customer Success Story
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BayCreativeMeet Yumi
The team of specialists involved in developing the new SK-II digital brand ambassador,
named Yumi, included conversation designers and conversation writers. The Human
OS platform and patented Digital Brain allow Yumi to emulate human responses such
as surprise, delight, and uncertainty using advanced artificial general intelligence and
CGI. Unlike bots and digital puppets whose lips move in eerie isolation from the rest of
their faces, Yumi appears comfortingly human. Every element of her face adapts and
responds to a conversation. To consumers, Yumi’s presence feels uniquely real.
“Yumi is more than a digital influencer, she is a digital person capable of interacting and
engaging in ways technology hasn’t made possible until now,” says Seth. “Yumi personifies
our goal to combine technology and creativity to benefit customers. She provides the warmth
and connection of human touch in the form of a digital experience to make the overall
skincare experience at home and in store more enjoyable and compelling. Customers are
able to turn to her for skincare and beauty questions at any time of the day or night.”
When COVID-19 erupted, the power of Yumi became especially clear. Yumi can operate
tens of thousands of concurrent conversations and can adapt in near real-time by
continuously adapting to have better conversations with users by changing the speech,
information, and conversation data set she uses. Yumi has a digital brain both using
advanced AI and tapping into other systems using AI. As a result, she is constantly
learning and adapting to an ever-changing environment.
THE BENEFITS THE RESULTS
Visitors to the SK-II website who interact Yumi is currently available in the US. The majority of consumer conversations with
with Yumi are more than twice as likely Yumi involve skin concerns, as expected. Yumi was intended to act as a nonjudgmental,
to buy one of the top 5 products than approachable, and always available skincare consultant who offers consumers a
website visitors who don’t interact comfortable way to find the right skincare product.
with Yumi first. Yumi connects with
Visitors who interact Conversion within Yumi experience Net Promoter
consumers worldwide on any platform, with Yumi are more than with click-to-cart functionality Score
2x 2.3% 90%
which is appealing not only to younger
consumers but also to those who are
intimidated by traditional retail settings.
as likely to buy
More human. Intelligent. Responsive.
Soul Machines’ Digital People increase ecommerce and retail
purchase conversion by helping consumers purchase the products
that are right for them.
Soul Machines is the leader in humanizing AI. Its Human OS Platform, featuring
a patented Digital Brain, makes it possible to deliver the goodness of human and
machine collaboration, providing a safe, engaging, and powerful brand-to-consumer
experience. This deep science and technology company has fused AI, computational
brain models, and experiential learning to redefine customer and brand experience
through new forms of digital interfaces. These interfaces can be used for service,
support, sales, product, and many other applications.
To find out how your company can benefit from the power
of a Digital Person like Yumi, request a demo.
ABOUT SK-II
Global prestige skincare brand SK-II was
founded in Japan in the early 1980s and later
acquired by Procter & Gamble. For more than
38 years, the brand has touched the lives of
millions of women around the world through
its skincare line containing the proprietary,
trademarked ingredient known as Pitera.™
How an AI-based Digital Person
dramatically boosted sales for prestige
skincare company SK-II
THE CONTEXT customers to experience a person rather THE BOTTOM LINE
than a bot and associate the brand with the
SK-II is anything but traditional when it Those who interact with Yumi first are more
warm, engaging, human-like personality
comes to branding and customer expe- than twice as likely to buy one of the top
that only Soul Machines could deliver.
rience. A documentary on the pressure 5 SK-II premium products than website
single Chinese women feel to get married, visitors who don’t. In addition, Yumi meets
THE CHALLENGE
a commissioned art show that explores three vital goals: She is innovative, scal-
the essence of SK-II, and experimental SK-II asked Soul Machines to create a able, and appealing to younger customers.
boutiques that use artificial intelligence to digital brand ambassador and skincare Visitors see Yumi, unlike human agents, as
make skincare product decisions easier consultant exclusively for SK-II. This new a nonjudgmental consultant.
are all examples of the innovative ways Digital Person was intended to help SK-II
this global brand strives to empower and connect with younger consumers through Yumi scales and operates autonomously,
educate its customers. an enjoyable and approachable skincare enabling SK-II to engage millions of custom-
education experience. ers in a human-like yet consistent way. Yumi
“The biggest consumer problem we are quickly adapts to the changing environment
trying to solve is that shoppers feel intim- To meet the challenge, Soul Machines by using AI-powered conversation.
idated going into a department store, so offered its client a choice of human models The Digital People created by Soul Machines
we are trying to create an environment that and brought the selected model to its are flexible and can be rapidly repurposed,
places control back in their hands,” says research facility for exhaustive data-gath- if needed, to shift from an established role
Sandeep Seth, Chief Executive Officer, ering. Over three days the model’s facial to a new role. Digital People are available
Global SK-II. expressions and other physical movements in 12 languages, scale in response to your
were collected via a 3D scanner to begin needs, and operate 24×7.
SK-II’s goal to further empower consumers the process of developing the new digital
led it to Soul Machines. SK-II wanted the brand ambassador, Yumi.
