Urban Decay Branding Encyclopedia

OVERVIEW

Urban Decay is a brand that promotes self-expression, vibrant, edgy colours and cruelty free makeup. The brand was created around 15 years ago when the founder, Sandy Lerner became frustrated that all the colours available to her over counters were tame and pink, red, and beige enslaved the prestige beauty market. The company opened just with 12 nail polishes and 10 lipsticks, all given edgy names that reflected on the seedier parts of the urban landscape such as Rust, Smog, Oil slick and Acid Rain. The creators knew that makeup wearers everywhere crave alternatives, hence their longevity well past the death of 90s grunge.

Today the brand has kept its original identity of edgy beauty, but has added a subtler toned down collection to their colourful range. The collection, called “NAKED” has been one of the most popular selling points and has enabled the brand to grow and round itself to all shades and all textures to suit all needs. The brand also concentrates of products to ensure the longevity of your makeup, with a range of established primers and setting sprays that are coveted by makeup artists and makeup junkies alike. 

Maybe this hunger for something unique explains the passionate support they’ve received over the years. Urban Decay products appear in dozens of magazines every month. They’ve even stolen prestigious packaging awards out from under brands like Avon and Revlon, and a lot of their success is down to the  love and support they get from makeup artists and beauty bloggers. 

“Urban Decay” is no longer such a crazy name for a makeup company. And young women today have never known a world where they couldn’t get purple nail polish over the counter. Mission accomplished.

BRAND HERITAGE 

Urban Decay was founded by Sandy Lerner in 1996 when she discovered that she couldn’t purchase brightly coloured nail polishes over the counter. She paired with Wende Zomnir and David Soward, and launched Urban Decay with a line of 12 nail polishes and 10 lipsticks inspired by the seedier facets of the urban landscape. The brand is feminine, dangerous and fun, it appeals to 

women who relish their individuality and dare to express it. The brand was bought by L’Oreal in 2013.

PRODUCTS

Urban Decay has one of the biggest shade ranges in the industry. The brand is known for high quality, highly pigmented products with tough staying power. The hero products are Primer Potion, a creamy eye shadow primer that gives shadows a non-crease, vibrant finish that lasts for 24 hours and the Naked Palettes. The Naked palettes are among some of the most popular in the industry, presenting a range of natural hues that range from delicate campaigns to gritty gun-metals, with textures varying from matte, to shimmer, to glitter.

PACKAGING

The company has won various prestigious packaging awards. Their packaging is mainly purple and silver and most products include a custom metal cover with an embossed UD logo and pyramid studs for a cool, edgy vibe. Some palettes and sets are embossed with floral or even fantastical patterns that set against the edgy, urban feel of the brand to reflect the motto “beauty with an edge.” Packaging can be quite advanced, including compacts that have two stories that open up to you with the push of a button and eye shadow pots that can be disassembled to fit into make-your-own palettes. Special edition products sometimes feature pop-up artistry, such as the Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows, which features a pop up scene of Alice in the Mushroom Forest above a secret draw filled with 16 of the company’s best selling eye shadows, all named after characters in the book.

IN STORE PRESENTATION

With sleek counters in metallic purples and metal hues, the in store presentation reflects the brand perfectly. Huge oval mirrors and purple and silver light fittings, such as lamps and chandeliers, adorn the counters and scream edgy, excellent beauty.

PRICE POINT

Urban Decay prices range from medium to high. Lipsticks and basic eye shadows are around the £15 mark, whereas the Naked Palettes are retailed at £37 in Debenhams and House of Fraser. Online prices can be considerably more as the product is so popular and eBay sellers have been selling the product for £55 or more.

 MARKET

Designed for women who relish their individuality and dare to express, the Urban Decay target market is 15-40 year olds. The brand also targets those who desire cruelty free makeup and vibrant pigments.

 PROMOTION

Urban Decay is a brand that is adored by beauty Bloggers, and so a lot of their marketing is done though social media platforms and word of mouth blog reviews. They also promote through high end department stores and use their packaging, product names and punchy tag-lines like “does pink make you puke?” to set them apart from other brands and make a strong identity for themselves. They take advantage of other huge releases to promote themselves, such as timing their collaboration with Disney to create the Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows in time for the release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie, thus drawing more attention to the brand in a time of high interest.

 UNIQUE SELLING POINT

Cruelty free and vibrant colours that reflect the urban landscape has meant that the brand has always had a strong identity that customers keep returning too. The care that they put into their packaging draws customers in and the longevity of their products keep them there.