How Clarins earned its place in Malaysia’s skincare routine on ChatGPT, with NeuGenM and Thrad
A French serum, brought into the skincare questions Malaysians now ask AI.
711,000+
Times Clarins joined a skincare conversation in Malaysia
4x
Traditional display’s click rate (banner ads), on ChatGPT
17x
Daily reach once the campaign extended to ChatGPT
The challenge
In Malaysia, skincare is a routine, and more of that routine is now planned in conversation with AI. People ask which order to apply toner, serum and moisturiser, or whether a hydrating serum should come before a brightening one, and they come back with the next question as their routine grows.
Clarins was rarely part of those conversations. It set out to change that with Double Serum, and to do it in a way that felt like part of the conversation, not an interruption to it.
The approach
NeuGenM and Thrad began by reading the conversation. In the campaign’s first two weeks, they analysed the topics of 51,457 Malaysian skincare conversations: 58% were about face serums and the routine, and nearly a third compared brands and products.
One insight shaped everything that followed. People rarely ask for a particular serum by name; they ask what comes next in their routine.
So Clarins became that next step. Double Serum was placed inside routine and comparison conversations as the serum step people were already looking for, with ads that led with its formulation. When someone asked which serum to use after toner for dry skin, Clarins appeared alongside the answer.
The result
In a month, Clarins joined Malaysian skincare conversations more than 711,000 times and drew more than 12,000 clicks from people in the middle of building their routine.
Most of that came after 24 September, when the campaign extended to ChatGPT. From then on, Clarins appeared in 17 times as many conversations each day, and its click rate nearly doubled. On ChatGPT alone, it reached 1.9%, four times the average for traditional display advertising (banner ads).
The campaign also showed what moved people to click: a clear message about the product rather than a catalogue. On Thrad’s network, the ad built on Double Serum’s formulation outperformed a product catalogue three to one, and it led on ChatGPT too. It did best of all among people in self-care conversations, where its click rate reached 2.95%, more than three times the network’s average. For Double Serum, these are the shoppers who matter most: people already investing time and care in their skin.
For Clarins, the result is a place in Malaysia’s skincare routine. The routine now starts with a question, and Clarins is in the answer.
