Lead with people, not technology
That was Cosnova’s guiding principle, set out by Rebecca Schalber, Senior Manager for Gen AI at the beauty business behind Essence and Catrice.
Cosnova ran 15 pilots across image generation, text, process automation, and AI video. Seven made it through. The team applied a clear set of tests to each: technical feasibility, organisational viability, and brand fit. Some pilots were dropped because they simply did not work. Others were dropped because the business decided it did not want to cross an ethical line.
Why the digital twin made the cut
In a category defined by texture, finish, and shimmer, most generative AI tools “break” the product. Schalber describes nail polishes with a rose base and peach glimmer being rendered with silver speckles. Close, but wrong…which, in beauty, is a brand problem.
The digital twins Cosnova built with Collective behaved differently. Where other AI outputs degrade with iteration, the twin got sharper. Product managers told Schalber they typically need seven to ten feedback loops to get a product shot signed off, whereas Collective delivered 96% accuracy in the first loop.
In their 2,000-person test, most people could not reliably tell the digital twin apart from a traditional product shoot. Some even preferred the twin.
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"Collective was able to deliver a 96% accuracy in the first loop, something we sometimes don't even achieve after seven feedback loops."Rebecca Schalber
Senior Manager, Gen AI, Cosnova
Why this matters for beauty marketing
Cosnova refreshes around half its product range every year. Speed to social and ecommerce is a business requirement. The digital twin turns the product itself into reusable infrastructure; one accurate, on-brand asset that scales across every channel without breaking.
Read the full article
Read Josh Stephenson’s full feature on Cosnova in Marketing Week.
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