Key Takeaways:
- Clorox is applying generative AI across advertising, R&D, and consumer insights as part of a $580 million digital transformation effort.
- AI tools help generate initial concepts, but human oversight and refinement remain essential.
- Teams use AI to scan thousands of product reviews, revealing consumer sentiment and sparking new product ideas.
- Clorox encourages grassroots AI experimentation and has not linked any layoffs to AI adoption.
- Executives view AI as a tool to enhance productivity and creativity, not to replace workers.
Clorox, the parent company of brands like Hidden Valley Ranch and Burt’s Bees, is integrating generative AI into its operations to speed up workflows and enhance decision-making. This effort is part of a $580 million digital transformation initiative launched in 2021 that includes cloud modernization, process automation, and AI deployment across functions. The Wall Street Journal really digs deep into what they have been doing.
One early area of adoption is advertising. Clorox teams use AI to generate visual drafts for marketing campaigns, such as unusual food pairings featuring ranch dressing. However, these images—sometimes showing implausible or unappealing scenes like unseasoned chicken wings—often require multiple rounds of human editing and prompt refinement to meet brand standards. To make this process more efficient, the company partnered with a firm called Pencil to standardize and improve the quality of AI prompts, using a templated “Mad Libs” approach.
Beyond creative, Clorox is deploying AI in product development. One example includes using AI to comb through thousands of online product reviews to extract consumer sentiment. This helped highlight the importance of scent in Burt’s Bees lip balm, which informed future product decisions. AI has also helped surface product concepts, such as a foaming toilet-cleaning tablet dubbed “Toilet Bomb,” that made it to market.
That said, not every AI-generated idea makes it past brainstorming. Executives acknowledged examples like “bleachless bleach” or a confusing cat litter innovation that were ultimately rejected. These cases underscore the current limitations of AI when it comes to common sense and market viability. Clorox uses such missteps as learning opportunities, combining the expansive creative reach of AI with human judgment to filter what’s realistic and relevant.
Importantly, Clorox’s approach to AI isn’t coming from top-down mandates. Instead, it encourages grassroots experimentation. Teams are invited to try tools and share what works. Successful use cases then spread organically across the organization. This cultural openness allows the company to adopt AI in a way that aligns with how teams already operate.
Clorox executives are also clear that AI is not a justification for workforce reductions. “We believe it’s got to be the people doing the work” who decide how AI gets integrated, said CEO Linda Rendle. So far, no layoffs have been attributed to AI adoption.
Chief Marketing Officer Eric Schwartz cautioned against overestimating AI’s current capabilities: “If you go in with the expectation that the AI is as smart or smarter than humans, you’re quickly disappointed by the reality.” He emphasized the importance of having clear guidelines and trained staff to turn AI outputs into usable assets.
As companies across industries evaluate how to responsibly and effectively apply generative AI, Clorox’s strategy highlights a balanced model: pilot early, adjust frequently, and involve the people who know the work best. The company’s experience may serve as a framework for others exploring AI not as a novelty, but as a practical tool for productivity and innovation.
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Rich Tehrani serves as CEO of TMC and chairman of ITEXPO #TECHSUPERSHOW Feb 10-12, 2026 and is CEO of RT Advisors and is a Registered Representative (investment banker) with and offering securities through Four Points Capital Partners LLC (Four Points) (Member FINRA/SIPC). He handles capital/debt raises as well as M&A. RT Advisors is not owned by Four Points.
The above is not an endorsement or recommendation to buy/sell any security or sector mentioned. No companies mentioned above are current or past clients of RT Advisors.
The views and opinions expressed above are those of the participants. While believed to be reliable, the information has not been independently verified for accuracy. Any broad, general statements made herein are provided for context only and should not be construed as exhaustive or universally applicable.
Portions of this article may have been developed with the assistance of artificial intelligence, which may have contributed to ideation, content generation, factual review, or editing.
