Consumer feedback influences product launch strategy at Urban Decay

The popular beauty press is abuzz with news of a forthcoming nude eye shadow palette from the revered L’Oréal brand. And rightly so—it’s a product consumers themselves asked Urban Decay to create.

Wende Zomnir founded Urban Decay in 1996, and since 2012 the Newport Beach, California–based company has been a subsidiary of L’Oréal. As a global brand, Urban Decay is sold online and in stores throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Singapore, and the Middle East, according to bloomberg.com.

Like all smart beauty brands today Urban Decay has a strong social media presence—over 6m followers on Instagram—and puts a good deal of effort into its digital marketing initiatives.

“We have lots of vocal interaction on Instagram and Facebook, which is great,” John Perasco, assistant vice president of digital at Urban Decay, told the press late last year when Urban Decay revamped its digital marketing strategy.

“We have the commerce side and that’s going strong. Now we’re building out the content side and making a visually relevant, beautiful, and interesting Urban Decay-branded portion of our site,” Perasco said.

Crowd pleaser

Beauty brands that innovate quickly and respond swiftly to consumer feedback and spontaneous trends are enjoying the benefits of high –volume sales and consumer loyalty. Often, it’s startups that act fast and that are listening and thriving on social media.

The big brands are catching up. The palette Urban Decay in launching in just over a month, on September 18, was created in direct response to consumer requests. The brand’s Instagram followers asked for “more nudes” and “more mattes.” And that’s what the company is going to deliver: "We heard. We listened. And here it is: Naked Ultimate Basics….All the edgy, versatile, matte neutrals our community begged for, in one insane palette," said the company in a media release about the upcoming launch.