Taking place from January 5-7 both in-person and virtually this year, CES faced a wave of in-person booth cancellations by major companies such as Amazon and Procter & Gamble when Covid-19 cases started spiking. In beauty and personal care, brands opting out of Las Vegas were prepared with virtual experiences to showcase their new launches. While futuristic beauty devices continue to have a big presence at the event, virtual beauty also continues to take off, especially when it comes to the metaverse.

“As a leader in providing AI- and AR-powered digital experiences, we’re well-equipped to mimic the in-person feel of CES for attendees at home with the interactive virtual booth experience,” said Alice Chang, CEO and founder of Perfect Corp, who decided to take the company’s CES booth virtual due to the pandemic.

Perfect Corp set up a metaverse-style virtual booth to exhibit its new developments, which include expansions in AR try-on tools, as well as a foray into the metaverse and NFTs. Visitors to the online booth can live chat with company representatives to learn more about its announcements.

Perfect Corp’s new virtual try-on tools highlighted include a new foundation-matching tool, video chat AR makeup application and jewelry try-on. The company is also the latest in the beauty tech world to get into the NFT craze. It announced it plans to incorporate beauty and fashion NFTs into virtual try-on experiences, and work with brands to create NFTs for AR.

“Immersive brand experiences and NFTs in the metaverse will be essential for beauty brands to forge meaningful connections with their consumer base,” said Chang. “Much like AR and AI, virtual try-on technologies have become essential to drive customer engagement; engaging experiences in the AR metaverse will become equally as important for beauty brands.”

Procter & Gamble went fully virtual with its CES booth, as well. Similar to its presentation last year, the company is hosting a virtual booth dubbed LifeLab, complete with video game-style navigation. Attendees can virtually walk up to representatives from brands such as Gillette and Oral-B to chat with them.

Procter & Gamble also launched its BeautySPHERE metaverse experience in partnership with London’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Users can walk through a gamified virtual tour of the gardens to learn about ingredients and the company’s sustainability initiatives.

“Facebook’s rename to Meta has created the metaverse frenzy as you see it today, but I have been working through what this could be for quite some time,” said Alexis Schrimpf, vp of design, skin and personal care, and co-founder and chief design officer for SeeMe Beauty at Procter & Gamble. “Our brands have been on a journey in digital for many years,” with a wide range of immersive virtual experiences that predate the “metaverse” label, she …read more

Source:: Digiday

Author: Aaron