TOKYO -- NTT DATA, a global leader in AI, digital business and technology services, announced the success of its “AI Consumers” proof of concept (PoC) for a makeup brand operated by Kao Corporation, a leading Japanese consumer goods company and a major global cosmetics and personal care manufacturer. The PoC assessed the feasibility of using AI models to simulate the behavioral characteristics of consumers and develop personas to aid product development research.

As consumer values and purchasing behaviors continue to shift, it has become increasingly important for marketing departments to rapidly and accurately capture the evolving needs of their customers. However, in conventional product development research processes, significant time and costs are required for research design, respondent recruitment, fieldwork and analysis. Within limited development timelines, it is difficult to sufficiently deepen research data or validate hypotheses.

For Kao’s makeup brand, which launches new products each season, shortening the product development cycle has been a critical requirement. Against this backdrop, NTT DATA utilized its marketing AI agent service, in combination with Kao’s accumulated consumer research, purchase and social media data, to create multiple AI Consumers and an AI interviewer for use in product development research.

While remaining consistent with insights gained through traditional research methods, the PoC demonstrated that AI‑driven research could potentially shorten the timeline from 1.5 months to just 0.5 days—a 99% reduction—delivering significant efficiency gains and enabling a more advanced consumer‑insight process. It also reduced the operational workload involved in respondent recruitment and survey execution.

“In recent years, consumer trends have shifted from traditional quarterly and monthly cycles to a weekly cycle. For consumer brands, responding to these rapidly changing trends with a high level of agility is critical to business growth,” said Mizuho Mitake, Head of Second Industry Business Sector, Japan, NTT DATA*.

“This PoC has demonstrated that AI can achieve significant gains in speed in the product development process while ensuring quality equal to or even exceeding that of human output. NTT DATA will expand the application of these results beyond product development into marketing operations.”

*Mizuho Mitake leads commercial strategy, sales, and consulting across Consumer Retail (including vertically integrated retail, grocery & convenience), Real Estate, Food, Beverage, Alcohol & Tobacco, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Materials, and Integrated Energy in Japan.

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