Puma’s pouncing on the opportunity to customize its product imagery with artificial intelligence.
The athleticwear company announced Tuesday that it has been using Google’s Imagen 2 model, a generative AI system included in its Vertex AI suite, which brings together a slew of multi-modal models for customers across various industries. Imagen is a text-to-image diffusion tool that allows users to generate photorealistic imagery.
Andrea Dujmovic, senior manager of global e-commerce photography at Puma, said the tool has helped save the team time on customizing product photos to the company’s liking.
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Rather than physically shooting multiple iterations of similar product photos with different backdrops, Puma can shoot several product images against a simple background and use generative AI to make it more visually interesting.
In a video detailing more about the announcement and the technology, Dujmovic shows an image of a trail sneaker against an all-white background. She then prompts Imagen to replace that background with “a hiking path in mountainous terrain in the woods. A trail running shoe placed in the middle of the path. Sunrise gleaming through the trees.”
From there, Imagen gives her several options to select from, each incorporating the elements the user has input via their prompt. While that already saves Puma time and money, the company can take it a step further by regionalizing the imagery for different markets. In the video, Dujmovic adjusts her prompt so that it includes a view of Mount Fuji behind the shoes.
The company uses the tool to generate imagery of all different landmarks directly recognizable to consumers in certain areas. Djumovic said that may help consumers better visualize the product in the context of their own lives.
“Ultimately, this makes for a better digital shopping experience for our customers. Puma India, for example, has already seen a 10 percent increase in our click-through rate. Imagen is cost effective, creates high-quality and localized visuals at scale, so it’s been the perfect choice for us,” she said in a video demonstrating how Puma uses the tool.
Puma announced earlier this year that it had partnered with Google Cloud for a multiyear agreement that would handle some of its data processing and give it the opportunity to use a variety of the technology provider’s AI tools. At the time of the announcement, Pancho Ortuzar, director of global e-commerce engineering at Puma, said the company wanted to focus on better understanding its customers and making the shopping journey increasingly frictionless regardless of channel. The companies also noted Puma would use Google’s AI-powered search and recommendation tools and its personalization tools.
That the company is using Imagen seems just another cornerstone of the partnership. Arne Freundt, CEO of Puma, said the tool has already provided benefits to the company, bringing it closer to the consumer.
“At Puma, all product creations always start with the consumer first in mind, and we have the ambition to be as personal as possible in each interaction with our consumers,” Freundt said in a statement. “Google Cloud’s generative AI has allowed us to create an immersive experience that is tailored to each consumer, and we are already seeing the benefits.”
