Colgate-Palmolive
genAI video and marketing content production at scale
Colgate-Palmolive produced genAI video ads with Hill's Pet Nutrition (Google Veo, BCG) 4 to 6 times faster than classic production, at a significantly lower cost per concept and with a consideration lift equal to or better than business-as-usual creative.
Key points
- Production of genAI video ads with Hill's Pet Nutrition (three Vs: volume, variety, velocity).
- Google Veo tool, in partnership with Google and Boston Consulting Group.
- Videos produced 4 to 6 times faster, lower cost per concept, consideration lift equal or better.
- Evidence level B, live status confirmed.
Objective
Produce more marketing content, faster and cheaper, without losing advertising effectiveness, to fuel volume, variety, and velocity across the group's brands.
The deployment
Colgate-Palmolive ran a genAI marketing content pilot with its Hill's Pet Nutrition division, in partnership with Google and Boston Consulting Group. Using Google's Veo tool, the teams produced two consumer-ready video ads 4 to 6 times faster than usual production, at a significantly lower cost per concept, while achieving a consideration lift equal to or better than business-as-usual creative. One of the spots generated natural-looking animal characters via AI, hard to obtain otherwise. Brigitte King, Chief Digital and Insights Officer, sums up the goal around the three Vs of content: volume, variety, velocity. Once a product and a campaign are framed, the group uses AI to rapidly develop thousands of content assets, adapted by market and by channel.
Results Proof B
Platform case study (Think with Google) quantified on speed and consideration lift, with a named executive; corroborated by press coverage and MIT Sloan analysis of the group's genAI strategy. Speed quantified but no financial results, hence B.
How it works
Documented architectureThe stack in detail
- llm Google Veo Google's video generation model, used to produce the spots, including the synthetic animal characters
- integrateur Google technical support for the tool and the genAI pilot
- integrateur Boston Consulting Group consulting partner for the pilot, framing and cross-functional team
- outil Dispositif de pretest (consideration lift) effectiveness measurement of generated creative against business-as-usual creative; protocol not publicly detailed
How it runs, concretely
For ops teams-
1Concept framing marketing
Definition of the product, the message, and the creative framework of the campaign.
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2Generation of the master videos AI (Google Veo) + creative team
Production of spots via Veo, including synthetic characters.
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3Effectiveness check insights team
Measurement of the consideration lift against business-as-usual creative.
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4Multi-market scaling AI + local marketing
Adaptation into thousands of assets tailored by market and channel.
The consideration lift of the creative and the cost per concept. If generated assets do not hold the effectiveness level of classic creative, the speed gain is worthless.
How your customers perceive this type of use
Sourced studiesUn ecart net separe les annonceurs des consommateurs : 77% des annonceurs voient l'IA positivement contre 38% des consommateurs (Yahoo/Publicis, 2024). Les mesures implicites confirment le rejet declare : en EEG, les pubs generees par IA produisent une activation memorielle plus faible que les pubs traditionnelles et sont decrites comme agacantes, ennuyeuses et confuses (NIQ, 2024). La disclosure a un effet ambivalent : elle augmente fortement la confiance quand elle est remarquee (Yahoo/Publicis), mais 27% des jeunes consommateurs disent faire moins confiance a une entreprise dont la pub est creee par IA (IAB, 2024).
Acceptance conditions
- Une disclosure visible : quand la mention IA est remarquee, la confiance globale envers l'entreprise augmente de 96% (Yahoo/Publicis 2024)
- Une qualite visuelle suffisante : les visuels IA de basse qualite augmentent l'effort cognitif et distraient du message (NIQ 2024)
Red lines
- Le contenu IA non declare puis identifie : 72% des consommateurs disent que l'IA rend l'authenticite difficile a etablir (Yahoo/Publicis 2024) et les marques utilisant des pubs IA sont plus souvent jugees inauthentiques ou non ethiques par les consommateurs que par les dirigeants (IAB 2024)
- Les mannequins et personnes generes par IA : 46% des consommateurs n'en veulent pas dans la publicite, l'inquietude premiere etant les standards de beaute irrealistes (Attest 2025)
Sources: Yahoo / Publicis Media (terrain Ebco) 2024 · IAB (avec Attest) 2024 · NIQ (NielsenIQ) 2024 · Attest 2025
How to replicate
Inference, not sourcedData prerequisites
- brand guidelines and rules per market
- a creative testing setup (consideration lift, pretest)
- structured campaign briefs
Org prerequisites
- creative team able to steer genAI tools
- governance on synthetic content and advertising compliance
Possible stack
- video generation model (Veo, Runway, Sora)
- adaptation / creative automation tools
- advertising pretest solution
The plan, step by step
- Step 1Choose the pilot brand and campaign, frame the message and the brand safeguards for generation.Deliverable: Validated campaign brief and creative framework
- Step 2Assemble the cross-functional team (creatives, insights, tech) and set up access to the video generation tool.Deliverable: Working team, tool configured on brand assets
- Step 3Produce one or two genAI spots alongside a classic production reference.Deliverable: Ready-to-broadcast videos, cost and lead time documented
- Step 4Pretest the consideration lift of the genAI spots against business-as-usual creative.Deliverable: Comparative report on cost / lead time / lift
- Step 5If the lift holds, industrialize the adaptation into assets tailored by market and channel.Deliverable: Multi-market asset library deployed
First step: Take an existing campaign, produce a genAI version in parallel, and compare cost, lead time, and consideration lift.
The same pattern, proven in other industries
Adobe
in-house genAI production of marketing content at scale
Atlassian
internal genAI agents for account targeting and marketing content production
BMW
advertising and experiential creation with generative AI
Sources
- S1 Colgate-Palmolive's gen-AI marketing pilot Interested party archive pending
- S2 The GenAI Focus Shifts to Innovation at Colgate-Palmolive Established press archive pending
- S3 Scaling at Speed: How Colgate-Palmolive Uses AI to Globalize Product Success Secondary archive pending
An error, newer info, a source?
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