The Coty Group announces up to US$ 100,000 in cash prized for Best Pitches on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Innovators and creatives must submit their applications by March 12, 2018.

Jason Forbes, Coty’s Chief Digital and Media Officer

Submissions should:

 Provide a concise description of what makes the start-up unique in AI;
 Select a specific Coty brand and demonstrate how that brand will benefit from the start up’s AI technology, metrics are a plus; and
 Describe the preferred partnership model to drive in-market trialling.

Coty will then select up to eight start-ups, based on projected growth impact on one or multiple Coty brands, to present their ideas directly to Coty’s brand leaders at its Digital Accelerator Summit on March 27th and 28th in both London and New York City.

There will be a prize fund of up to $100,000, with prizes of $10k - $50k awarded based on criteria fit (brand alignment, growth impact, scaling upside) for winning start-ups judged by a panel of Coty digital experts.

Other benefits will include:

 Strategic support from Coty’s Digital team;
 Priority access to Coty brand executives worldwide;
 Coty’s domain expertise, including access to proprietary consumer research in the beauty and luxury industry; and
 Stress testing your technology with a real brand challenge using Coty budgets for initial pilots.

The March 27 & 28 Digital Accelerator Summit is part of the 2018 series that will provide a broader set of innovative start-ups a forum to connect directly with Coty’s colleagues and brands through the lens of a specific capability. They are part of the Coty’s Digital Accelerator, which was launched in 2017 to connect the group’s staff to external digital capabilities and start-ups, accelerating the development of Coty’s digital capabilities.

Coty has a growing expertise in partnerships with a breadth of start-ups to drive growth across our brands. This includes our acquisitions of Beamly and ghd, partnership with Younique and new connections via our relationship with Zenith. Throughout Coty, we foster an ‘act like a start-up’ culture, encouraging creativity, agility and quick action. We’re excited about fostering deeper commercial relationships with start-ups aligned with our key priorities. AI is a foundational example of this,” said Jason Forbes, Coty’s Chief Digital and Media Officer.