Building City Beauty’s
Product Innovation Engine
Transforming an unstructured product development function into a scalable, data-driven innovation pipeline aligned to brand strategy and consumer need.
Key Role: Director, Product & Design
Timeline: 2025
The Challenge
Unstructured Product Development Was Limiting Strategic Growth
When I assumed leadership of Product Development at City Beauty, new product ideas were being introduced without standardized evaluation criteria or clear alignment to brand strategy and our core customer — women 45+.
Leadership discussions often lacked actionable data, product opportunities were difficult to prioritize, and downstream teams (Marketing, Packaging, Copywriting) began work without fully defined product foundations.
This resulted in inconsistent decision-making, unclear ownership, and increased risk of launching products without strong differentiation or market readiness.
The previous process moved ideas directly from pitch to launch without structured evaluation.
This resulted in time spent reviewing underdeveloped concepts, misaligned storytelling, and avoidable gaps in cross-functional readiness.
My Objective
Build a Repeatable, Scalable Product Evaluation System
My goal was to introduce structure, accountability, and strategic rigor into early-stage product development.
I needed to design a system that:
-
Centralized idea intake
-
Established clear approval gates
-
Ensured alignment to brand strategy and women 45+ needs
-
Enabled data-driven roadmap prioritization
-
Equipped Marketing and Packaging with complete product foundations
In short — build an operational backbone for product innovation.
The Solution
A Multi-Stage Concept Evaluation & Approval Framework
designed and implemented a full end-to-end concept evaluation pipeline replacing ad-hoc pitching with a disciplined innovation workflow.
Tools & Systems I Built
Operational Tools That Made the System Real
designed and implemented a full end-to-end concept evaluation pipeline replacing ad-hoc pitching with a disciplined innovation workflow.
Closing the Marketing Gap
From Concept Approval to Market-Ready Foundations
To ensure downstream execution was equally structured, I created a New Product Marketing Information Document — a master reference aligning Product Development, Marketing, and Packaging teams.
This document equips:
-
Packaging copywriters with benefit, claim, and sensory data
-
Marketing teams with positioning and differentiation
-
Cross-functional teams with a unified product story
Results & Impact
Impact on Team, Leadership, and Business
Process Impact
-
Introduced a repeatable innovation pipeline
-
Eliminated subjective product pitching
-
Enabled data-driven roadmap decisions
Team Impact
-
Established clear PD ownership and accountability
-
Improved cross-functional alignment
-
Reduced rework downstream
Business Impact
-
Lowered risk of misaligned product launches
-
Accelerated packaging and marketing readiness
-
Built scalable long-term innovation infrastructure