Unilever and Samsung Form Data-Sharing Partnership to Drive Product Innovation
Laundry lifestyle needs and trends have changed over the years and Unilever is looking to stay ahead of this transformation by forming a data partnership with Samsung to help develop innovative solutions within the category.
Unilever (for its Dirt Is Good brand and Comfort brands) and Samsung will collaborate to bring together consumer behavior data and emerging technologies within laundry machines to create more connected, smart, and convenient experiences. The goal is to combine future learnings and insights to create an end-to-end view of the “new laundry lifestyle," said Unilever in a statement.
Washing machines and laundry products have historically been developed in isolation, noted Eduardo Campanella, Unilever’s business group president. “This partnership with Samsung will see us co-create the future of laundry with more speed and agility than ever before. We’ll be able to combine changing consumer behaviors with in-home technology trends, creating a smarter approach to laundry that suits today’s busy lifestyles.”
Developing Wonder Wash
Unilever developed Wonder Wash using state-of-the-art robotics and AI-accelerated models, tapping into million-plus data points over the last five years to design the formulation. The insights accrued data such as the level of ingredients within fragrance, surfactants, enzymes, and polymers to predict how they will perform under different laundry conditions, across various types of washing machines, water types and temperatures, and the number of stains on clothing.
Laundry Tests and Use Cases
The company has provided Samsung with consumption data for its laundry liquids to help the appliance and technology company build a stronger database for a new app and barcode feature that tells consumers how much detergent they need to use per wash cycle.
This builds on existing efforts with Unilever-owned Persil. The company tested its Wonder Wash on Samsung AI-enabled washing machines at the company’s Port Sunlight R&D hub to create new efficiencies. Among them is maintaining clean standards even in a short, 15-minute cold-wash cycle that results in up to 30% water and 60% energy savings compared to longer wash cycles.
“We know laundry isn’t always a topic that gets people talking, so this partnership creates new opportunities for us to speak directly to savvy shoppers who are looking to do their laundry in a smarter way,” said Tati Lindenberg, VP of marketing at the Dirt Is Good brand (also known as OMO, Persil, Surf Excel, Breeze, Ala, Skip, and Rinso).
The recent efforts align with Unilever’s Growth Action Plan to drive innovations that increase efficiencies and focus on the company’s power brands.
More Laundry Innovation
Though CPGs have routinely approached laundry innovation on their own, partnerships with appliance manufacturers are becoming more commonplace. For example, Samsung is also working with Procter & Gamble (alongside GE and Electrolux) to launch a washing machine certification program for machines that can wash clothes just as well (or better) in cold water as they do in warm.
Tide Cold-certified machine must meet several qualifications, including having a cold water feature, a custom cold cycle that provides a strong wash performance when using cold water in combination with Tide, and a cold water wash setting. Also, the cold feature must improve the cold wash performance with Tide compared to washing in cold without Tide (as determined by P&G).
Cold-wash efficiency seems to be the way of the future, with Todd Cline, P&G director of sustainability for fabric care, previously telling CGT that the company wants to get to 75% of loads on cold. “We really need everyone doing the vast majority of their loads of laundry on cold,” he said.
