Urban Decay tests entertainment-led microdrama with ReelShort series
L’Oréal is taking another step into branded microdramas, using a six-part Urban Decay series on ReelShort to explore a format built around serialized entertainment rather than conventional product-led advertising. “Ghost Hunter Hotline” debuted Oct. 24 and generated 3.8 million views in its first five days, according to data shared by the brand.
The vertical videos, each generally lasting a few minutes, follow Zoe as she seeks payback on romantic interests who have ghosted her and her friends. Urban Decay’s Ghosting Spray appears in the story, while supernatural themes and jokes about modern dating connect the series to Halloween. A returning former fling adds a cliffhanger-style complication.
The project reflects a broader shift in how L’Oréal says it approaches marketing in creator-driven environments. Han Wen, the company’s chief digital and marketing officer in the United States, said the priority is to consider the audience and make entertainment the primary purpose, rather than centering the work on product messaging and brand narrative.
A platform partnership, not an agency production
For “Ghost Hunter Hotline,” L’Oréal worked directly with ReelShort, the microdrama service owned by Crazy Maple Studio. The company developed, produced and distributed the series in collaboration with the platform, departing from its earlier use of external agencies for this type of work. Wen said L’Oréal wanted to test a direct platform partnership rather than a hybrid approach.
That choice drew on ReelShort’s understanding of the format and its audience. Third-party industry analyses cited by the brand indicate that the platform is on track to generate more than $1 billion in revenue this year. The series reached No. 2 on ReelShort’s most-viewed shorts ranking during the five-day period after launch, according to Urban Decay’s figures.
Urban Decay was selected from a L’Oréal portfolio spanning dozens of brands. The company’s Halloween fit and its edgier positioning made the occasion relevant to the cosmetics label, which was founded in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s. L’Oréal acquired the brand in 2012 as part of an effort to reach higher-end younger shoppers.
Fast production, with results still to assess
Wen said the series came together in about four weeks, faster than a traditional advertising campaign. She pointed to speed as an advantage when marketers are responding to rapidly changing trends. The format also gives a brand an opportunity to build a narrative across multiple short episodes, with product integrated into the plot rather than presented as the sole focus.
Views and a platform ranking offer an early indication of reach, but the figures shared for the launch do not establish how the series affected sales, brand perception or longer-term audience behavior. L’Oréal’s stated rationale is to learn how U.S. viewers engage with microdramas and whether the viewing habit can translate to its brand audiences.
The company has previously experimented with emerging social-video platforms without all of those bets lasting. Wen cited Periscope, the now-defunct livestreaming service associated with Twitter, and BeReal, which saw a surge during the pandemic, as examples. Her comments frame the current effort as a test rather than a guarantee that microdramas will remain a durable channel.
L’Oréal entered the U.S. branded microdrama space with a Maybelline holiday campaign the previous year, drawing on Hallmark-style romance conventions. The Urban Decay series extends that exploration with a different brand, seasonal hook and direct relationship with a specialist platform. For marketers considering the format, the campaign illustrates a model in which entertainment, platform expertise and rapid production are central, while product presence remains part of the story.
