Introduction: Global prestige skincare brand SK-II celebrated the first-ever ‘World Pitera Day’ on 13 July to honour its hero Pitera ingredient. The Moodie Davitt Report Brands Editor and Digital Marketing Manager Hannah Tan-Gillies caught up with Global SK-II CEO Sue Kyung Lee to talk about the rationale behind the global-first event, SK-II’s bold ‘Late Night Portraits’ campaign and the enduring legacy of Pitera.
To celebrate World Pitera Day, SK-II launched a multi-sensorial animation in Japan attended by SK-II’s VIPs and brand ambassadors. The event was broadcast around the world, marking the first major global event for SK-II. The animation is supported by an immersive virtual experience.
The World Pitera Day immersive experience told the story of Pitera, from its origins to its latest scientific breakthroughs. The striking animation, dressed in a premium colour palette of red and gold, took visitors through the history of Pitera beginning from the first bottle of Pitera ever made.
Sue said: “Pitera is at the heart of SK-II. Iconic and exclusive to SK-II, Pitera is a naturally derived skincare ingredient, crafted from a proprietary yeast fermentation process that is exclusive to SK- II. It is in every single SK-II product, and is key to millions of crystal-clear skin transformations around the world.
“Why Pitera? Because the world needs to know more about this miracle of ours, that is a precious gift from nature and beyond. With World Pitera Day, we celebrated this exclusive skincare icon in the first global large-scale event dedicated to it. Visitors began their World Pitera Day journey with an immersive retelling of Pitera’s fascinating origin story.”
“Afterwards, they took a trip to the one place in the world where Pitera is crafted, the Shiga Plant in Japan. They also learned about the numerous leading skin science discoveries that SK-II has pioneered with Pitera through the decades. These included an exclusive preview of SK-II’s latest Pitera 24/7 Skin Fluctuation Study.
“Visitors got up close and personal with SK-II’s brightening and early anti-aging innovations through the GenOptics UltraAura Essence and Skinpower lines. They also stepped into the future of skincare with SK-II’s latest, most advanced contactless skin analysis tool, the Mini Magic Scan, which unlocked their skin age, health and beauty and offered personalised Pitera regimens.”
Late Night Portraits
Notably, World Pitera Day marked the unveiling of the ‘Late Night Portraits Campaign’. The campaign features a series of stunning bare-faced photographs of SK-II’s brand ambassadors. This includes singer Mina (member of South Korean pop group TWICE), Japanese comedian Naomi Watanabe and Japanese actresses Ayaka Miyoshi and Kaori Momoi. Momoi is SK-II’s longest-standing brand ambassador.
“The Late Night Portraits Campaign is based on the groundbreaking findings from our Pitera 24/7 Skin Fluctuation study,” Sue explains. “The study, conducted 24/7 over six weeks, uncovered how women’s skin condition, texture, pores, redness, dullness, hydration and barrier function, fluctuates greatly within a day, even looking up to almost 10 years older due to multiple daily stressors. Through this study, we discovered that skin is at its worst late at night.
“We also discovered that with regular use the Pitera Essence, skin fluctuations would be dramatically stabilised. With this, we decided to embark on our boldest Pitera stress test yet. We wanted to see how well the skin would stand up to daily fluctuations with just the use of Pitera. Our celebrity ambassadors stepped up to the challenge, and we shot them bare-skinned at the worst time of day to test how well their skin turned out, hence the Late Night Portraits was born.”
In this bold stress-test, celebrities had their skin prepped with nothing but Pitera for the shoot and were photographed bare-skinned. During World Pitera Day, SK-II also encouraged our guests to take their own Late Night Portrait.
The campaign continues SK-II and Pitera’s legacy of bold, brave and memorable story-telling campaigns that put Pitera to the test. From its recent, Gen Z-focused ‘Pitera & Me’ campaign, the ‘My Pitera Story’ project, to its House of Miracles and Social Retail projects with China Duty Free Group, SK-II has always embraced memorable campaigns that underline the lasting power of Pitera.
“Late Night Portraits builds on our iconic Pitera’s legacy of miraculous skin transformation and is underpinned by our desire to solve one of the greatest skin frustrations and problems of our consumers, young women of today.
“We certainly pushed the boundaries on this one,” she adds. “The execution of the campaign is very bold and courageous. Being photographed at your worst time of day, without any prior preparation except using Pitera Essence, would be a daunting task for anyone, including our celebrity ambassadors.”
SK-II has always embraced dynamic campaigns and activations — such as Late Night Portraits and World Pitera Day — to differentiate itself within a crowded beauty category. These campaigns, according to Sue, are the result of SK-II’s flexible and consumer-centric approach to building brand equity.
“Our consumers are at the centre of everything that we do. We are constantly listening to them to understand and address their biggest skincare needs and engage them in the social platforms they are exploring.
“We hope to serve our consumers better than anyone else, through providing a unique prestige service that consumers expect from a luxury brand like SK-II across all omnichannel consumer touchpoints, whether physical or digital,” she adds.
https://youtu.be/xg0oY_bl6aw
In March 2021 the company unveiled SK-II Studio, its first film studio division and content hub. The concept was inspired by SK-II’s purpose #CHANGEDESTINY as the world began to emerge from the unprecedented turmoil of the global pandemic.
Its pioneering social retail pop-up store with China Duty Free Group [the subject of a Moodie Davitt Spotlight Series eZine] turned the line into the ride, while the SK-II Studio ‘VS’ animated films explored the different social challenges and pressures faced by women today.
This investment in travel retail underlines the channel’s value. Sue says, “Travel retail is a key channel as it is important to serve our consumers wherever in the world they choose to shop. We hope to bring to life our next Pitera-centred experience to channel very soon, so watch this space.”
Today, SK-II continues to push boundaries to help women all over the world change the destiny of their skin. This is true not just with the brand’s thought-provoking campaigns and activations, but with its beauty tech breakthroughs too.
“We’re also looking to raise the bar for our purpose, #CHANGEDESTINY in a way that is the most meaningful and relevant for our customers,” she adds. “We recently launched the Mini Magic Scan, which is an industry-first positive skincare counselling experience powered by facial recognition and artificial intelligence. The Mini Magic Scan provides personalised skin analysis and recommendations in just three minutes. I believe that tools like the Mini Magic Scan can help our consumers to change their skin destiny.”
World Pitera Day marks an important milestone for SK-II’s Pitera journey, yet there is much more about this ingredient to be discovered. “Pitera remains essentially unchanged for over 40 years. Yet, the miracles of its scientific discoveries and innovations continue to unfold,” Sue says.
“Since we first discovered Pitera and launched our first product, the SK-II Pitera Essence, we have been pioneers in leading longitudinal research on skin. Our 10-year Akita Study and Skin Destiny Study investigated skin DNA and uncovered the secrets behind beautiful skin, while also exploring how Pitera can help people’s skin stay beautiful for over 10, 20 or even 30 years.”
According to Sue, projects such as the Pitera 24/7 Skin Fluctuation study have the dual effect of helping educate women about the benefits of Pitera and recruiting new SK-II fans.
“While we know the long-term skin transformation power of Pitera, we also know that younger consumers today can’t wait for years to see results,” she explains. “Our latest research has identified the top skin concerns of the current generation of consumers, and we found that these concerns are very focused on the now.
“Late at night skin fluctuations can cause women to look nearly ten years older due to multiple daily stressors,” she adds.
“If unresolved, the accumulation of these daily fluctuating skin concerns can accelerate chronic and visible skin aging in the long run. We found that Pitera can help a woman maintain crystal clear skin, even when it’s meant to be her worst moment. This is because Pitera is welcomed in by skin like its own, with a unique composition that resembles skin’s Natural Moisturising Factors.”
The Late Night Portraits campaign holds a special resonance for Sue, who put the power of Pitera to the test with her own late night portrait. “Going bare skinned is frequently a challenge for women, as we worry about visible flaws and whether we look ‘good enough’ for the public,” she says.
“Naturally, I was slightly apprehensive about taking my own late night portrait at first. But I was very inspired by the courage of our celebrity ambassadors in stepping up to the challenge, and when I saw the outcome of my late night portrait, I was impressed by how well my skin turned out with just Pitera.
“Pitera gives me the courage to show my bare skin in this late night photoshoot,” she concludes. “I hope others will be inspired in the same way.”
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