Walgreens Boots Alliance launches skin care brand co-created with consumers

The pharmacy-led retail chain announced a new personal care brand this week, one backed by years of R&D and an online community of thousands of women who were involved along the way with product testing and the like.

YourGoodSkin is the company’s first new skin care brand in decades and was carefully designed to leverage the technology, trends, and consumer expectations of the current moment.

More and more IP in many sectors is open source these days. FMCG brands including those in cosmetics and personal care are being urged toward ever greater transparency.  And there’s strong consumer interest in personalized or customized beauty products and routines that incorporate a bit of blend-it-yourself beauty. It’s this zeitgeist which has led to product co-creation for brands big and small in fashion, in beauty, in tech, etc.

Walgreens Boots Alliance’s new brand YourGoodSkin is part of the mix. “This is the first time we’ve codeveloped a brand with a community and are leveraging a community as part of marketing a brand,” says Kristof Neirynck, vice president and global brand director of skin care for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

It’s a mass market skin care brand that engaged consumers during product development and is deliberately cultivating a digitally connected community of brand loyalists.

“We are excited to launch YourGoodSkin, the first skin care line co-created with scientists, leading dermatologists and a community of thousands of women who tested, input on and validated the product,” Lyle Tick, managing director of Boots Retail USA, says in a company press release about YourGoodSkin. “In development for over five years, this range satisfies an untapped need in our brand portfolio and in the market by providing a scientifically proven solution for the healthy skin seeker at an affordable price.”

Product portfolio

The YourGoodSkin brand comprises 23 products: cleansers and moisturizers, as well as treatment products for acne, shine, and hydration. The centerpiece of the product portfolio is the Balancing Skin Concentrate.

“The Balancing Skin Concentrate’s secret is a mix of powerful ingredients, which are designed to optimize skin condition by addressing the reasons for skin imbalance,” according to the release, which highlights Green tea, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, lipochroman, Japanese Lily Turf root extract, and sphinganine.

The Walgreens Boots Alliance press release about the new skin care line mentions 3 clinical trials (each apparently lasting 3 weeks and involving 49 women) that were performed on the Concentrate and shares data showing that 90% of women testing the product had improved skin texture, 71% achieved more even skin tone, 80% more radiant skin, 94% less oily skin, and 96% less dry skin.

“Our research shows that women want consistently healthy-looking skin, but achieving this can be difficult when everyday life factors such as pollution, temperature, hormones, stress or tiredness can cause the skin to become unbalanced,” says Dr. Mike Bell, a skincare scientific expert at Walgreens Boots Alliance who led development of YourGoodSkin.

“Our solution was to develop the ultimate skincare hack,” explains Bell, “a range of products to deliver visibly healthier skin in just 28 days.”