“AI today is really all around us, data is really the soil for AI and we are using it every time everywhere. In all honesty, sometimes we may be using it without even realising that we are using it,” said Hindustan Unilever’s Meenakshi Burra who is the CDO and Vice President Data, Technology & Business Services (South Asia).

She took the stage at exchange4media’s TechManch Digital Marketing Conference 2024 to highlight the key aspects behind leveraging digital & AI to drive growth in consumer markets.

Burra started her session by sharing a video with the audience that pointed out how AI can explore data to solve problems that humans cannot. It can spot trends that we might miss out on and turn them into actionable insights.

From manufacturing smarter to finding new talent, the video explained how technology is rewriting the business model. It also mentioned how today there is real-time visibility of the value chain, enabled by technology. Through data and scale, there is unparalleled drive for growth and competitive advantage.

Sharing her personal story, she mentioned that the first thing she checks in the morning is what is the quickest way to get to the office, on the Maps app. “In our market, AI is definitely being accelerated by India’s digital stack and the penetration that we are seeing of digital all around us. We have a high smartphone penetration, one of the most affordable data as compared to the world, and this is definitely complimented by the increased internet penetration in the country,” Burra explained.

Consequently, the consumers who are there in this geography are buying more online, and exploring more trends online. She added, “These consumers are coming back and connecting with like-minded people on social media and sharing their feedback and what they would like to see more online.”

While online shopping is a growing trend, Burra said that consumers still significantly also shop offline. “We have around 10 million retailers all across the country, from modern trade large format stores to the small kirana stores. Our retailers are not being left behind in this digital revolution as well, they are participating in this digital
economy to understand what their consumers are interested in. So they are consuming a lot of brand and product information online as well,” she said.

Therefore, for companies like HUL, AI, data and technology become increasingly important as an opportunity across all their ecosystems. Burra shared an example of how HUL is leveraging the beauty sector to drive digital experience. “In HUL we have a number of beauty brands, embedded in the daily lives of so many consumers. This could be expert hair solutions from Tresemme, expert skincare from Dove or looking runway ready with Lakme. A lot of these consumers are going digital. We have to be able to give them seamless digital experiences, so that they are able to experience the brand in the accessible comforts of their own homes,” she mentioned.

For instance, the FMCG giant explores with virtual try-ons, recommendation engines, even interactive quizzes to help customers select down to the product of their choice.

Burra also spoke about how media and content are getting augmented. “I think data and AI is really positively disrupting this space and in HUL we are really seeing this as a big enabler and a shift that we have to partner and lead as we go forward. Machine learning and analytics are helping us invest in the right channels to be where our
customers are, the content ecosystem and the content supply chain is also going to be so much bigger because we are going to have so many more variants of content all coming out much faster,” she said