P&G’s ‘Analytics and Insights’ Department Turns 100

Since 1987, P&G has built its strategy on "understanding the consumer" for sustainable growth of its brands, which rank among the most preferred in Turkey's personal and home care products market. The company has achieved this through market research conducted over the past 100 years.

P&G Turkey, Caucasus and Central Asia Director of Analytics and Insights Yasemin Yıldırım, noting that market research that began in 1924 continues today strengthened by advanced technology applications, stated: "P&G's Analytics and Insights department is celebrating its 100th year globally. Shaped by consumer insights, P&G's consumer and market research efforts—founded in 1924 when surveyors visited homes one by one across America to answer a single question—have evolved to include big data analytics and artificial intelligence technology. The only constant has been our curiosity about understanding consumers and the right questions we ask toward that goal. Through the data we obtain, we continue to develop innovations that increase customer satisfaction through superior performance," said Yıldırım.

Stating that "understanding consumers" provides significant insight for P&G, Director Yasemin Yıldırım said: "Our Analytics and Insights department has passed its 100th year globally. We are transforming our purpose of improving lives into reality through insights and data obtained from market and consumer research to develop superior-performing products. With innovative products and services developed based on the questions asked, P&G today stands as one of the world's largest names in the personal and home care products sector, touching the lives of 5 billion people," she added.

The Beginning: Curiosity

Explaining that the department's founding story and strategies began with "curiosity," Yıldırım said: "A single question from Dr. Paul Smelser, working in P&G's Economic Research Department, created a revolution in understanding consumers and paved the way for the birth of the market research field.

Smelser asked: 'What percentage of women use P&G's Ivory Soap for face and hands, and what percentage use it for dishwashing?' Ivory was one of P&G's two major brands at the time, but the answer remained unknown until a team of female surveyors was formed to connect with consumers and visited them door-to-door to understand them. Today, we continue to identify insights that will meet consumers' needs and improve their daily lives.

We make this data actionable by combining it with advanced analytics and technology. With our innovation-prioritizing approach, we allocate 2 billion dollars annually to our R&D efforts. Understanding that we need to create a culture where innovation thrives, we invite all our employees to voice their ideas, support learning through pilot programs and testing, and encourage discovery. As a result, we hold more than 37,000 active patents," he said.

The Only Constant: Asking the Right Questions

Yasemin Yıldırım continued: "What has remained unchanged at P&G for 100 years is our curiosity about understanding consumers and the right questions asked toward that goal. To understand the reasons behind people's behavior and to provide better services and products through our brands, our A&I teams in Europe today conduct approximately 1,000 studies per year and gather opinions from approximately 100,000 consumers. To evaluate data in the most accurate way, we adopt a multidisciplinary approach that combines human emotions and behaviors.

For this reason, in 2015 we consolidated data analytics and insights expertise under one roof. This allows our Data Scientists and Insights specialists under the same roof to combine their strengths—not only processing, modeling, and reporting data, but also investigating the reasons behind data outputs through diverse research methods and providing actionable insights on the spot. With more than 7,500 scientists and engineers worldwide, we support our innovation efforts through 13 global research facilities and 4 R&D centers."

We Use the Power of Data, Advanced Analytics and Technology Together

Providing information about the work carried out in Turkey, Yasemin Yıldırım said: "We work to combine the power of deep human understanding with data, advanced analytics and technology to uncover and implement powerful insights that will satisfy consumers and grow our brands. We focus on developing how we can use technology to understand consumer behavior. For example, on our 'Studio AI' platform, we can receive rapid feedback to optimize digital ads, videos, packaging, and shelf applications that interact with consumers. In this process, we combine the latest AI technology with P&G's historical data and behavioral science principles.

As P&G Turkey, Caucasus and Central Asia, for approximately the past 5 years we have been conducting our traditional advertising research and measurements with artificial intelligence. The analyses inform our superior products, packages, communications and retail applications. When we use data, powerful analyses and AI models to support our efforts, we achieve exceptional growth and productivity. Technology is opening the door to transform our business processes, research capabilities and personal productivity," she said.