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FlexiCube: Much of its design and functionalities is the result of using AI tools. Photo credit: REJO
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AI-generated design visualization of REJO FlexiCube. Photo credit: REJO
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Frank Sze’s PIXL range vigorously uses AI tools in r&d, design, and marketing. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Still from Ideotech’s AI-generated promo video for PIXL nic salts, featuring c.e.o. Frank Sze. Photo credit: Ideotech
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Stephen McDonald, IP insights and strategy director, NGP Trends. Photo credit: NGP Trends
Tobacco Asia explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping design, marketing, and communication in the NGP sector.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a defining force across industries. next generation products (NGP) within the tobacco sector - whether vaping, heated tobacco, or pouch brands - are no exception. Companies are increasingly deploying AI not only for marketing and communication but also for technical product design, r&d, and consumer engagement. Yet adoption is uneven. While some brands are pushing boundaries with AI-driven design improvements and creative campaigns, others are only beginning to explore its potential, often limiting use to customer communication. Tobacco Asia’s interviews with four leading industry players revealed both the opportunities and the limitations of AI in this highly regulated and competitive sector.
AI as a practical enabler of responsible innovation
Amy Chen, global PR manager of leading heated tobacco brand, REJO, described her company’s AI journey as beginning in late 2023, when AI-assisted tools were introduced during the research phase of a new heating device the company was developing. “At that stage, AI was applied to support the simulation and optimization of heating methods and thermal processes, helping our r&d team evaluate multiple technical scenarios more efficiently,” she said.
Following this initial implementation, AI use expanded to subsequent device models. The benefits were clear: “Compared with conventional development approaches, AI-assisted simulation enabled our r&d teams to better model real-user usage scenarios, including variations in heating behavior, airflow, humidity, temperature stability, and oxygen content,” Chen said. This allowed potential performance issues to be identified earlier, design parameters refined with greater accuracy, and precise temperature control achieved for consistent aerosol release.
However, Chen also emphasized that AI is not a replacement for human engineering expertise, conventional testing, or human judgment, but serves a supportive layer. “AI tools helped improve development efficiency, scenario coverage, and decision-making quality, while reducing reliance on repeated physical prototyping,” she said.
Emotion-centered interaction design
Beyond technical r&d, Chen said REJO has also embraced AI for what she calls “emotion-centered interaction design.” This approach prioritizes users’ emotional experience alongside functionality. “In our devices, this is reflected in features like the FunTap display function, the interactive LCD display showing heating, charging and other status information in real time, which presents information in a clear and visually engaging way,” Chen told Tobacco Asia.
Why is this important? Chen argued that heated tobacco devices are used frequently and personally, so intuitive and engaging operation is critical. “Emotion-centered interaction helps make operation more intuitive and engaging, improving user confidence and long-term adoption.”
For instance, take the design of the FlexiCube, REJO’s newest heated tobacco device. “Its trendy appearance and animated interface are good examples of this approach in practice,” noted Chen as she pointed out FlexiCube’s LCD interface, which uses animated feedback during heating and status changes. “This allows users to instantly understand device conditions while enjoying a smoother, more engaging interaction.”
AI in brand marketing
REJO also deploys AI in brand marketing. “AI-driven insights tools - such as AI analysis functions within social media monitoring platforms - help us to quickly identify industry discussion patterns and content trends,” explained Chen. YouTube’s AI translation features further enable her team to review and evaluate content prepared by international key opinion leaders (KOL), adjusting messaging to align with audience expectations across markets.
In addition, AI supports internal brand consistency. “Yes, we use AI-supported tools to help maintain brand consistency across teams and channels, including alignment on logo usage, visual assets, and color themes,” confirmed Chen. These tools streamline coordination, though final governance remains human-led.
For content creation, AI-supported solutions enhance efficiency and consistency. At REJO, for example, “AI helps ensure consistent application of key product information, visual structure, and tone, while all external communications are reviewed and finalized by experienced professionals.” Tools such as the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit and ChatGPT, alongside platform-native AI features, have already been actively deployed at REJO for quite some time.
Visual marketing is another area with which REJO is experimenting. “We use AI tools such as Midjourney and Dreamina to generate visual and short video content,” divulged Chen. According to her, these tools allow REJO to prototype creative concepts faster, visualize ideas at an early stage, and adapt visuals efficiently for different markets and platforms.
AI across every stage of the development process
Frank Sze, founder and c.e.o. of Ideotech Ltd., the firm behind one of the UK’s most popular vape brands, PIXL, described AI as integral to his company’s operations. “The use of AI tools runs through every stage of development,” he affirmed. “As early as the r&d phase of the PIXL 6000 [Ideotech’s top seller], we began using AI for functionality simulation, data modelling, and product design optimization,” he said. “But we also leverage AI-assisted tools to predict consumer usage scenarios, simulate user behavior, and refine design details, as well as to conduct virtual pre-testing of different design concepts before entering the physical prototyping stage,” Sze added.
That’s not all. At Ideotech, AI also generates visualizations for different product directions in order to improve communication efficiency and alleviate resource constraints. In short, it’s the whole shebang – and the benefits are tangible. AI creates shorter development cycles, helps reduce material waste, ensures more precise adjustments to product structures, airflow systems, and user interaction designs. “AI’s powerful data analysis capabilities enable us to capture parameter details that might otherwise be overlooked,” enthused Sze.
Groundbreaking campaigns and customer communication
Frank Sze has also used AI in brand marketing and communication. “A lot of people may already have seen [our] promotional video for PIXL nic salt,” Sze pointed out, claiming that “it was the industry’s first AI-produced advertising campaign featuring realistic human characters.” AI enriched the script, generated multiple video scenes, and combined them into a complete narrative storyline.
Audience analysis and market monitoring is another area where Ideotech and PIXL make extensive use of AI. “We use AI tools to monitor market trends and public opinion, helping us to obtain better traffic support,” Sze explained. Overall, AI enables rapid formulation of marketing strategies at different levels and directions, assessing feasibility and efficiently testing creative approaches.
In terms of customer communication, AI plays a role as well, though Sze admitted that its application is limited… at least at this point. “In customer communication, AI is primarily used for first-level customer support, multilingual assistance, and issue classification. This has significantly improved response efficiency and ensures that customers receive accurate information quickly, while more complex cases or those requiring emotional judgment are still handled by human teams,” Sze said.
Beyond r&d and marketing
But Sze also applies AI to supply chain forecasting, risk management, internal organizational optimization, and compliance document review. “For example, AI is used to analyze historical supply chain risk cases from comparable products, and to deliver customized industry insights, market intelligence, and content tailored to the needs of different departments,” he explained.
The company’s most frequently used tools include ChatGPT, which supports advertising copywriting, creative planning, market research, data analysis, knowledge management, and even code development. “ChatGPT assisted us in building our new official website,” Sze noted. Meanwhile another tool, Sora, also developed by OpenAI, has become a core tool for Sze and his team for creative video production.
AI as a supportive layer in a complex IP landscape
Stephen McDonald is the IP insights and strategy director at NGP Trends, a leading and highly trusted online platform and consultancy with a clear focus on the NGP sector. He offered Tobacco Asia a broader industry perspective. McDonald stressed that AI in an NGP setting is “increasingly discussed as an enabling layer rather than a stand-alone solution.” Its role, he said, is to support decision-making, improve efficiency, and handle scale in areas where manual processes struggle.
In regulated categories such as tobacco and NGP, adoption is selective and cautious. “Product developers in the NGP theatre operate in an environment where tens of thousands of relevant patents are filed each year, often covering highly granular technical features,” McDonald explained. AI is used to filter and structure this sheer volume, helping teams cope rather than replacing legal or technical judgment. The benefits include efficiency, speed, and clarity.
AI automates scanning of global patent databases, removes duplicates, categorizes filings, and summarizes technical documents. “The overall benefit is a more consistent and repeatable way to stay informed, rather than relying on ad hoc monitoring,” said McDonald.
Furthermore, AI also supports organization-wide visibility of third-party IP, continuously monitoring new publications, comparing them against known competitors, and routing relevant items to appropriate teams. This reduces commercial risk and informs product strategy. “Beyond risk avoidance, patent activity also signals where the industry is investing and experimenting,” McDonald noted.
AI in marketing and media
An executive at a leading Shenzhen-based reduced-risk product (RRP) brand, speaking to Tobacco Asia anonymously, highlighted AI’s role in marketing. “ChatGPT has been incredibly helpful in providing cautious and objective responses, which allows [us] to better refine copy and avoid any inappropriate phrasing,” the executive explained.
For social media, Deepseek has proven useful. “It provides highly humanized content that doesn’t sound robotic,” the executive said. In media production, meanwhile, the Nano Banana Pro model has been transformative. “It can generate and modify images in native 4K resolution, maintaining subject consistency and correcting flaws in photos,” elaborated the executive. “In the past, tasks like these required a lot of time and effort, but with this tool, we can achieve high-quality results much more efficiently.”
The unstoppable rise of AI in the NGP sector
Across Tobacco Asia’s round of interviews, a clear picture emerged: AI is reshaping the design, branding, marketing, and communication of NGP as we know them today. From simulation-driven r&d and emotion-centered interaction design to patent monitoring and creative campaigns, AI is proving itself as a supportive, efficiency-enhancing – as well as rapidly growing - set of tools.
Yet limitations do remain. Adoption across the industry appears uneven, with some companies still restricting AI use to simpler tasks such as customer communication. Even some AI-forward teams still emphasize that human oversight and domain expertise are non-negotiable. As one unnamed c.e.o. at a Chinese company put it, “AI is still some distance away from the perfect assistant of science fiction, but its strategic value is undeniable.”
Meanwhile, REJO’s Amy Chen’s perspective neatly captured the responsible, pragmatic stance that is likely to define the near term. “AI is viewed as a practical enabler of responsible innovation. At REJO, we apply AI selectively and purposefully, focusing on areas where it can enhance product reliability, consistency, and user experience. All AI-assisted works are guided by human expertise to ensure quality, compliance requirements, and alignment with our brand values.”
In summary, the direction of travel is unmistakable. Industry leaders plan to deepen use across predictive design, personalized experiences, sustainability optimization, and organization-wide insight with earlier IP checkpoints and more connected data-informed ecosystems. Despite occasional sluggish adoption and variability across companies and functions, the pace of AI deployment in the NGP arena (and across countless other product sectors) will surely accelerate. There is no stopping it.