The Urban Outfitters brand delivered a comparable net sales increase of 12.5% in Q3 fiscal 2026 — up from 4.2% growth within the previous quarter — helping its eponymous parent company notch record sales. The retailer has previously attributed a few of its recent gains to the way it is authentically engaging consumers — especially the younger ones that make up its goal demographic — in additional coordinated ways across creative, brand and performance media. In addition to sales and customer growth, the retailer reports its brand affinity and unaided brand awareness metrics are also on the upswing.
“From a marketing perspective, we’re extremely excited concerning the progress the team is making,” Shea Jensen, president of the brand in North America, said on an earnings call in August. “More young customers are being welcomed into the brand through the team’s compelling creative, culturally relevant conversations and exciting collaborations with brands our customers know and need.”
To that last point, Urban Outfitters partners with other brands — from retailers like Nike to restaurant chains including Chipotle — to seek out white space in Gen Z consumer needs. These collaborations and marketing activations begin with deep consumer insights, explained Cyntia Leo, the brand’s head of promoting.
“We take into consideration partnerships as a way of being in service to our community and to our customer, not only for hype and collaboration. We love hype, we predict it is so exciting. But for us, we actually wish to partner and collaborate with a purpose in mind,” the chief said.
Seasonal needs
For the youth-focused retailer, the brand new yr starts in September around back-to-school season, continues through the vacations and into an lively spring. Its marketing calendar focuses on key consumer moments and occasions, from moving out and in of dorms through gift giving to spring break and music festival season.
For example, the brand’s UO Haul campaign launched in May focused on the moving process and included a scavenger hunt, a partnership with U-Haul and a concert by Katseye — the girl group who went on to drive viral success for competitor Gap. The effort continued over the summer with an HGTV-sponsored dorm makeover contest and culminated with its first annual UO Haul Sale in July.
“For back to highschool, we aren’t experts in moving. We thought U-Haul can be a terrific partner for us to bring [something to] that basically tremendous, awful time period of attempting to move all of your stuff and dealing with all that,” Leo said of the hassle.
In the autumn, Urban Outfitters teamed with Dunkin’ for a capsule collection, a “100 Days of Coffee” giveaway and an experiential activation in Boston, tapping into love for each brands in addition to what Urban Outfitters says is Gen Z’s favorite sweet treat. The retailer also continued its long-running partnership with Tinashe for a dance-inspired collection that was first announced last yr within the wake of the musician’s viral hit “Nasty.”
“Tinashe is so authentic in that dance world, and we see dance as one other great space that our community loves us to be an element of — Urban Outfitters is a destination for quite a lot of dancers,” Leo said. “It was an incredible opportunity to come back together to construct a line that basically services each our customers and Tinashe’s amazing community.”
For the crucial holiday period, Urban Outfitters is targeted on the Gen Z consumers who’re reshaping the season, including by leveraging internal research just like the finding that 54% of college-aged customers prefer to make use of wish lists and presentations to share holiday gifting ideas. This insight drove a partnership with online design platform Canva for design templates. The brand also uncovered among the cohort’s emotional desires that informed its experiential strategy.
“More than ever, they wish to feel connection, they wish to be with their community they usually’re celebrating different traditions,” Leo explained. “How can we energize and fuel their needs?”
Purpose and measurement
The brand’s holiday push includes six social-impact partners that it is going to support via in-store donations through January: Altadena Girls, Active Minds, Creatives Want Change, GLSEN, BlackStar Projects and Asian Arts Initiative. Those partnerships reveal that, while purpose-driven and inclusive marketing have taken a backseat on the brand landscape, they will still be crucial for connecting with Gen Z.
“We have a 365-day, always-on offense from a social-impact perspective,” Leo said. “We are working with [these organizations] all yr round. We’re supporting their events, we’re sending products, we’re doing cash-wrap donations with them, we’re also giving back. It is just a part of our ethos.”
As with every marketing strategy — from TV ads to creator content — measurement of Urban Outfitters’ partnership activations is crucial, especially as CMOs face increased pressure from other parts of the C-suite to reveal results and ROI. For the retailer, impressions and engagement are key KPIs.
“We don’t desire to be the brand that just interrupts our customer’s life. We wish to a part of their life in a relevant and helpful way,” Leo said. “[We’re] occupied with how they engage with us, ensuring that we’re helping them ultimately, ensuring that we’re providing a service, after which really showing up for them.”
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