For almost 200 hundred years, P&G (Procter & Gamble) has not only reigned as an innovator of consumer goods, but as a gold standard of business performance. Though P&G was not the first company to build a global business services CoE or embrace intelligent automation (IA), it was one of the first to master them. 

The same could be said for business intelligence and advanced analytics. Over the past decade, P&G has quietly but effectively unleashed the power of enterprise data to fuel innovation and growth all while elevating the customer experience. 

Personalization & Data ROI

In the fall of 2020, P&G announced its new partnership with Google Cloud to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and cutting-edge data science techniques to personalize the customer experience.

According to reporting by consumergoods.com, in order to set the groundwork for this transition, P&G first migrated it’s first- and third-party consumer data from an on-premise solution onto Google's cloud platform, integrating this once siloed data into an enterprise data and analytics data lake architecture. In combination with Google Cloud’s enterprise data warehouse,  BigQuery, this system will provide P&G a 360-degree view across all of its channels while also streamlining the customer experience and optimizing back-office processes.

As Vittorio Cretella, CIO, Procter & Gamble wrote for Google’s Cloud Blog, using BigQuery, “our data scientists and business analysts can create algorithms to solve some of our toughest questions. Increasingly, we turn those predictions into a prescription—so we automate the result of the algorithm and inject them into our transactional and planning systems, so mainstream decisions are automated, freeing up our team to invest time in more complex and unique challenges.”

Data-Fueled Experiences in Action

One example of how P&G is using data to create novel customer experiences is with its Lumi by Pampers™ baby monitoring product. Using a camera and built in IoT sensors, this solution tracks the sleeping habits of babies and equips the parents with data-driven insights on how they can more effectively sleep train their infants. 

Another example of how P&G is embracing data monetization and data ROI is its Oral-B iO Series. This smart toothbrush monitors a person’s brushing habits and provides bespoke guidance on how they can improve their teeth cleaning routine whether it be brushing softer, slower or more/less frequently. 

Last but certainly not least, in April 2021 P&G launched its AI-powered SmartAssist, a “virtual cleaning expert that provides personalized recommendations for business owners looking for cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing solutions that meet the heightened expectations of guests.”

The SmartAssist advisor works by asking the user a series of questions about their specific cleaning challenges and priorities (i.e. low toxicity, disinfection requirements, etc.) as well as the nature of their business (i.e. business type and size). Based on the responses, SmartAssist provides individualized product recommendations as well as usage and safety information. 

However, P&G has also faced some controversy…..

How far would you go to obtain customer data? 

In its quest to connect with customers, P&G reportedly partnered with dozens of Chinese trade groups, CPC-backed associations, tech firms and a smattering of other global companies (i.e. PWC, Nielsen, Deloitte) to develop CAID -  a device fingerprinting tool that tracks users for purposes of targeting ads in a way that undermines Apple’s new privacy policy. 

As explained in the Wall Street Journal, “CAID can be used without having to obtain user consent. If in operation, it could track activity even if a user had opted out of tracking through a pop-up prompt Apple is using with the rollout of new privacy controls.”

Though P&G’s next steps as they pertain to data privacy are unclear, one thing is certain: the data privacy saga is only just beginning. 

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