Introduction: On 28 July in Tokyo, Japanese premium skincare brand SK-II unveiled the ‘SK-II Secret Key House’, a multi-dimensional art exhibition that over a two-day period celebrated the brand’s exclusive ingredient Pitera and revealed some of its long-held secrets.
SK-II Secret Key House is the central focus of World Pitera Month, an ambitious honouring of an ingredient that has been a constant in the Procter & Gamble-owned (since 1991) brand’s four-decade history.
The month-long event builds on the success of the inaugural World Pitera Day held on 13 July last year, a multi-sensorial animation in Japan attended by SK-II’s VIPs and brand ambassadors and broadcast worldwide.
The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie visited the unveiling of the SK-II Secret Key House at Standby, Ba-Tsu Art Gallery in the Japanese capital, where he had the chance to catch up with SK-II’s visionary CEO Sue Kyung Lee.
It’s a scorching hot day in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo but inside the Standby, Ba-Tsu Art Gallery the SK-II Secret Key House is all sci-fi cool, serene almost dreamlike. I’m the first journalist to discover this extraordinary project that is kicking off a one-month celebration of SK-II’s unique and cherished ingredient, Pitera.
Art meets skin science, heritage converges with modernity as visitors unlock Pitera’s secrets (including its formula, previously guarded with Fort Knox-like security) by interacting with an eclectic array of multi-sensorial artistic installations within the exhibition space.
I’m also here to meet Sue-Kyung Lee, one of the most-admired executives in the global beauty world, a champion of diversity and inclusion, a passionate brand builder and strategic business leader. I last met her on stage at The Trinity Forum in Singapore last year where she beguiled the audience with her deeply people-centric view of how brands and retailers should engage with consumers.
{Click on the Podcast icon to hear highlights of Sue Kyung Lee’s conversation with Martin Moodie in Tokyo}
“Today is a very, very special day. There is huge excitement and huge anticipation,” Lee says as we chat in a dramatically vibrant red interview room adorned with SK-II The Secret Key theming (the brand’s original name was Secret Key-II).
“We have created World Pitera Month because we realised from last year that one day is not enough. What’s most important is how we can keep carrying on this particular tentpole event, where we can really talk about Pitera and share experience and stories about it. So I’m super, super excited.”
Amid a relentless trend in the skincare industry to constantly upgrade formulas and products, SK-II has remained remarkably steadfast with Pitera, a proprietary natural bio ingredient comprising more than 50 micronutrients.
“The entire skincare industry is filled up with new ingredients – thousands and tens of thousands of ingredients that everybody’s talking about,” Lee observes. “It’s like a fad… what’s the next big thing? And it just keeps on going.
“For SK-II we have this particular ingredient, Pitera. All our products have Pitera and all our foundation of science and a superior efficacy are really grounded on Pitera.” She admits the company is constantly asked why it focuses on one ingredient amid so much noise from big-spending rivals but says the answer is simple – and helps explain the World Pitera Month initiative.
“We really wanted to retell the story to consumers, to the media and to the world of why we’re doing what we do and to showcase the discoveries and experiences of our ambassadors and loyal customers,” Lee adds.
It’s a critical point. The brand’s peers may talk constantly about new improved versions but for SK-II Pitera is the anchor of both efficacy and performance over many decades. “There is no need to change,” Lee insists.
“It’s not lack of effort nor simply that we are very comfortable. It’s that you cannot really find anything better. And what’s really surprising about Pitera is there is a continuation of amazing discoveries about what it does to the human skin.
“That’s why we have kept it as it is for more than 40 years. We keep discovering new science, new efficacy, new miracle ingredients. So we thought that when we create this tentpole event for the brand, we should celebrate Pitera and let everybody know what’s the science behind it.
“What are the discoveries and what are the human stories that our ambassadors and the real consumers have experienced with this ingredient? What changes for her skin and what changes in her life?”
Telling stories
Central to the SK-II Secret Key House project – and indeed to the brand’s broader communication – is storytelling. Moreover, storytelling in a way that engages with consumers of different generations, nationalities and cultures not simply by talking about the product itself.
“We say, ‘Choose your destiny for your skin for your life and for the planet’,” Lee explains. “So in that spirit, the storytelling and engagement as a human being is very important. If we were only interested in skin, then we could simply develop the advertising through talking about the skincare. But because we are so committed about her life as well, without storytelling as a human being in an authentic way there’s no way we could talk to her about her life.
So that’s where the importance of storytelling comes in. And interestingly these days, as you very well know, consumers are not necessarily keen to just listen to the brand voice from one side. They are actively engaging and they’re opting in or opting out depending on whether this story is interesting or relevant to them.”
This unwavering dedication to Pitera’s proven capabilities has earned SK-II a loyal customer base, including renowned brand ambassadors including Mina of K-pop girl band Twice; Japanese actress Kaori Momoi who has been with the brand for more than 30 years; and Chinese actress Tang Wei, part of the extended SK-II family for a decade.
Lee expresses pride in the longevity of those relationships, something she says is rooted in the brand’s insistence on partnering with genuine believers and advocates rather than simply ‘faces’.
“It’s more about ‘Do you really share the values with us? Do you really believe in transforming your skin? Do you believe with us, that this plays a very important role in changing and improving your life?’”
If, as has been the case, the answers are in the affirmative, and those same ambassadors are willing to share their authentic stories with consumers, then the match is right, she adds. “That’s what we believe is a very important criteria.
“Mina, for example, is very young, but she’s really willing to share stories about herself [see film below] so that’s how we formed the partnership.
I note Lee’s constant personalisation of SK-II’s consumer, her conversation peppered with references to ‘her’ and ‘she’. Given the effectiveness of the product, what about ‘him’ and ‘he’ in terms of broadening the target market?
“It’s interesting, lots of men buy our product,” she responds. “So this is something to definitely consider. At one point we started having male beauty counsellors because men come to our counters for their skin but also for gifting as well and sometimes they feel uncomfortable surrounded by, say, five women.”
Where art meets science
A fascinating conversation moves onto the ostensibly unlikely convergence of skin science and art. In fact the synergies are natural, Lee says. “Storytelling is one of the ways that we like to engage our consumers more, that’s one point. But the other is that telling and showing the science can be very boring. So how do we story tell our science in the most interesting way but in line with what the science does? That’s where this whole convergence with the artists really comes from.”
How to communicate the “hardcore science and superior efficacy” behind SK-II in a compelling and intriguing manner is key to the brand’s approach. By stimulating both the left and right brains of the audience – or the analytical and creative sides – SK-II aims to ensure a holistic and memorable experience {main story continues under the panel below}.
Living proof of science “I’ve been working with SK-II in skin science for more than 30 years. It’s about continual learning, continuous improvement, craftsmanship. Skin expertise doesn’t happen overnight,” says SK-II Global Research & Development Leader Suda Sudarsana, whose youthful looks and perfect skin make him a walking, talking ambassador for the brand. Talking about SK-II’s success with travellers, he says, “When you travel, you can experience spring, summer, fall and winter all in one trip. So one of the things that we are researching is when your skin goes through all these fluctuations and it gets fatigued. What is the solution to that? That’s a discovery that we dedicate ourselves to.” He and SK-II Global Principal Scientist Dr Kukizo Miyamoto take me through a fascinating presentation of the science that underpins Pitera. A giant white face is brought up on a darkened screen but this is no random image. “It’s a biological mean of the millions of people that we have studied,” Sudarsana explains. “Every season has different challenges,” adds Dr Miyamoto as he shows the face’s skin is affected differently across the calendar. Winter causes dryness, while the other seasons all pose differing challenges, such as from the air conditioning and UV exposure associated with the hot summer months. Autumn sees a drop in humidity from summer, prompting a roughness on the skin, and so on. Redness, dryness, spots, you name it, are all prompted by external factors that Pitera helps address. SK-II conducted an extraordinary study in Akita, known as ‘Autumn field city’, in Honshu, Japan, a place renowned for the beauty of its women and their flawless skin. The study, dubbed ‘Pitera time travel’ observed the skin-aging process over a ten-year period. “Then at the end of ten years, we introduced the same people to Pitera for one year through the four seasons,” Sudarsana explains. “In that one-year period, when they used Pitera they went back nine years on average, some people went back more than ten. So this is what we call living proof of our science. There is science and science but we are a brand of living proof.”
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Talking travel retail
Where does travel retail, such a crossroads of humanity and one that ultimately leads its consumers back to their local markets, sit in the SK-II galaxy? Lee’s answer is typically thoughtful, reaching beyond the sheer commercial opportunity.
“Travelling stimulates different senses, different experiences and then different needs,” she observes. Skincare plays a super-critical role when consumers encounter conditions very different to those they usually experience in their daily routine.
“In my view, that allows us to help and support her as she’s realising how skin reacts differently to different weather conditions and so on.
“Given that context that her skin is going through a lot of changes while travelling and her experience is exposing her to different stimuli, then from the skincare point of view – and SK-II’s in particular – travel retail plays a huge role.”
SK-II is closely monitoring an at last resurgent China outbound travel business to assess where the key Chinese consumers travel and how they behave. Agility is key to the brand’s response, Lee notes.
“We have a very big market in China and lots of Chinese consumers are travelling around the world. Where do they go the most? So, of course, we are continuously looking at very typical cities like London and Paris and Rome. But post-pandemic we are expecting that they’re going to more diverse locations, so we are also looking at what are the up and coming locations.”
Asked for an overarching message to the travel retail community, Lee responds, “We’ve gone through a tough time but as the traveller comes back we really need to make sure that we give her an even more elevated experience. She expects more as she starts to travel again. Just expecting her to come back based on previous practices and experience is not enough. So we’ve got to really elevate together.
“How do we give her the best experience during her precious travel that she is expecting? First of all, we need to really raise the bar; we have to really satisfy her even above and beyond what we used to do. I’m sure that the industry recovery will then be much faster.
“In doing so, what she expects is superior quality, service and experience. That, I think, is the key business driver. So we have to work together as a brand and as retailers and airports to really provide that service experience and superior product efficacy that she expects.”
Turning big into humungous
I close by asking this charismatic yet self-effacing leader where after almost a year and a half leading the brand, she and SK-II are on their respective journeys. And what inspires her most in terms of business challenges?
“First of all, I see a huge possibility,” Lee replies. “As I came into this role, I loved the brand as I had always been using it. But as I get to know the essence of the brand, it excites me more and more because the business that we have is big, but the business that we can have is humungous.
“That excites me; that wakes me up every morning saying, ‘Let’s do it!’ I can really see the potential of the brand. If everybody knows what I know about this brand, then there will be absolutely no reason why they don’t use it. I really believe in that.
“So almost I feel like we are not doing justice to this brand. How do I really do justice to what this brand has? How do I communicate it? How do I help consumers experience this amazing brand? I see a huge potential in geographical expansion, more consumers getting to know and getting to experience more products. More Pitera. That’s what keeps me going.” ✈
Seeking planetary inspiration As part of its World Pitera Month celebrations, SK-II revealed ‘The Secret Key’ series, featuring three original short films starring some of SK-II’s most renowned Brand Ambassadors. The films tell the Pitera transformation journeys of singer Mina from Korean girl band Twice, Chinese actress Qiu Tan and Japanese actress Shiho Sasaki. Sasaki is one of the Akita [a region in Japan where the women are renowned for being exceptionally beautiful -Ed] women who originally participated in SK-II’s first longitudinal study from 1999 to 2011. The first-of-its-kind programme uncovered the links between Pitera and skin aging. ✈ 
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