Digital Sampling - not just a pretty face

Have you been sent a beauty sample from your social feeds, from magazines or through the latest VR try-ons? Chances are it came via a dynamic team in Newcastle...a tech company that has transformed a global industry in less than a decade.

Think about what you were doing when you were 20 years-old....well at that age, the inimitable Jonathan Grubin was smashing the champagne on the SoPost ship, before she set sail to 20 markets, employing almost 80 people and shipping one sample every 2 seconds!?

To celebrate their 10th birthday in Newcastle, they welcomed top bods from international giants TikTok, Coty, Aptar, Perfect Corp. and Douglas. They came, they spoke, they celebrated sales and reach with numbers that are more akin to discussions about Space.?

Hosting this event, I thought it was an ingenious idea to have all the partners talking about how their different skills had helped each other. SoPost's success is built on data and longterm analysis. Very few times do the back-end staff who create the algorithms get to see their impact in the real world. This gave everyone a chance to see what impact the links in a business chain can have.

As well as exploring the monumental changes in #beautytech around 3D AI and VR, as well as the growth in digital sampling, we also discussed the challenges for the future- of their business models (The #metaverse anyone?) and to the planet. Solving the issues of less packaging, sustainable packaging, going #netzero, reducing waste...they're all key to meeting the needs of their customers.?You.

Cost is always key to product development and currently nothing is cheaper than single-use plastic right now, but it sounds like the science and engineering experts are dedicated to changing that. During our panel discussion I posed the question of whether people in the audience would be happy to pay for sample if it was 'green'- say 50p? The majority said YES.?

Could this be part of the answer to the sustainable beauty conundrum, where everybody wins? Perhaps if you combine it with the work of SoPost partners...

- The Big One: reducing waste. Advancements in virtual try-ons mean you test a whopping average of 22 shades of lipstick online, before choosing your specific testers and then your purchases. Thus cutting waste and carbon footprints. Wayne Liu gave an insightful talk on this technology at Perfect Corp. Getting nods of approval, was his suggestion that AI and VR could be used to develop virtual politics, where we test what life would be like under various governments. Ingenious!

- The Other Big One: groundbreaking changes to packaging and sustainable delivery. Dedicated to the green cause, Daniella McNulty ???????????? avoided planes on her route from Paris and talked brilliantly about the vast efforts Aptar are making in this area. Considering half the contents of your bathroom cabinet will likely be made by this company, it'll transform the way you use cosmetics, toiletries and medicines.

- Waste can also be reduced by the democratisation of social content on platforms like TikTok, where the authentic rules in product reviews from creators. Martha Gill talked passionately about TikTok's role in this (as a map of the cultural pulse), as well as confirming your social feeds DO know you better than you know yourself.

- Finding new ways to reach people and more accurately match them with products, will also help reduce waste even beyond the outside world we live in. Coty's Shanna Weinblatt and Scott Kenworthy travelled from New York to give what I can only describe as THE BEST explanation of The Metaverse I have ever heard...even after years of doing network radio interviews on the subject. They nailed it, and demonstrated the potential value to us as consumers, even cynical late-adopters like myself!

- And then there's the power of Intelligent Order Filtering, where having billions of data points means the right products can be put into the right hands. This was explored with great experience by the SoPost team of the impressive DJ, Alex, Kendall, Magali , Helene and Jonny.

Pull this thread and you're led down the conversation path of data trading, responsible governance and further innovation in personalisation. You thought this was just about teeny bottles of perfume and sachets of eye cream? Nope, this event was proof that we're on the cusp of a third industrial revolution. It's mind-bending but exciting.

(A BIG thank you to Jonny, Louise and Erin for creating such a fascinating event)