All you need to know about BRANDSTORM 2018
Brandstorm is L’Oréal’s very own innovation competition with over 60 countries competing, it’s evolved into a truly global competition over the last 25 years. The competition gives teams of three students the chance to tackle a real business case and innovate new ideas for some of L’Oréal’s 24 international brands. The next addition of Brandstorm 2018 is opening on October 16th 2017, and trust us, we’re going to make it huge! With 25,000 participants in the last edition, hold on tight for an even bigger adventure. Here’s the lowdown on all you need to get the best start to your Brandstorm journey.
The Process
Signing up to Brandstorm is really easy, all you need to do is head over to our website and sign up. No CVs required — we just ask a few questions about you. Now it’s time to add your team members, again this is an easy process and is clear on our website. Don’t worry if you have friends at other schools you can form a team with them; the only requirement is that you all go to school in the same country. While registering or once you have registered, you can also choose an academic mentor of your choice to help you! Your mentor is there to give you professional guidance throughout the competition.
After you’ve got your all-star team together, it’s time to get cracking with your ideas for the given business case. Your short, snappy three-slide presentation will be assessed at by our national judges from L’Oréal, in the national preselection phase. Upon successful preselection, you will be asked to join us at the National Selection where you present your full project to your national judges from L’Oreal. Finally, if your idea is totally kick-ass you’ll get invited to the Worldwide Finals in Paris on May 17th 2018!!
A quick note for those of you who competed in 2017 (unless you reached the international finals), there’s nothing stopping you from playing again ;) Simply re-register on the 2018 platform.
Who?
Brandstorm is a competition for any undergraduate or Master’s students who study in one of our 60 participating countries! Students must be 18 years of age or older, although any under-age participants must have the consent of his or her parent or legal guardian. If you’re currently undergoing a study abroad program, you are required to compete in the country where you’re studying in and where you register.
The Case
Your mission for Brandstorm 2018 is to invent the customer experience for the professional salon of the future.
The experience should help recruit and engage Millennials, as well as to increase the hairdresser’s loyalty. We want to see innovative digital solutions, connected technologies and sustainable initiatives. The winners will be competing for three different awards; a Brand, Tech and CSR award.
- The Brand Award rewards the most innovative customer experience strategy focused on establishing a strong, long-term relationship with the customer.
- The Tech Award rewards the most innovative connected device, machine, system, software, hardware that supports the creation of new services and a valuable experience for the customer.
- The CSR Award rewards the most sustainable innovation based on its contribution to reducing the environmental footprint of L’Oréal’s activities.
See the full brief here
Why compete?
Experiment!
Just like the L’Oréal spirit in which we work, Brandstorm gives you ultimate freedom with your project to take it in any direction you choose. There’s no such thing as a bad idea, and we encourage you to experiment and try as much as possible! We give you access to L’Oréal’s company market data and insights, to help you develop a tangible, real business case study that we hope to use in our business! The case we present is a real-life challenge for our business, and we rely on Brandstormers to help us innovate the future of beauty. (No pressure…)
Learn!
Brandstorm is not just about winning! One of the most common pieces of feedback we receive from previous contestants is how much they learnt on their journey. To support your learning we have a number of helpers on the way. Firstly, our great academic mentors are there from step one to aid you with the creation of your idea and to help you transform it into a feasible project. Then, when it is time to present we support you with a L’Oréal coach, this is a L’Oréal employee who can really help you present your idea in the best way possible. Finally, throughout the competition, you will have access to our brilliant bank of e-learning tools. These tools, give you the opportunity to learn new skills during your journey. While developing your project, you can develop yourself!
Connect!
There are many chances to meet new people and make new friends. Start off by making a team with new people and watch your friendship grow as the competition goes on. At the World Finals, you will have the opportunity to compete and party with students from all over the world, a wonderful opportunity to meet some fresh faces. Finally, many L’Oréal experts & executives will attend the World Finals, so it’s a great chance to meet and hear about their expertise.
Enjoy!
Aside from the great learning journey, you will go on there are many other perks to Brandstorm. If you reach the final, you will fly to Paris for the World Finals and get a real taste of Parisian life! While in Paris we will show you our brilliant Headquarters, where some of the biggest decisions are made regarding the future of beauty. Finally, we’ll have lots of great events for you to celebrate doing so well in the competition, like last year where we had a live international DJ set.
WIN
Last, but no means least is what you can win. L’Oreal will be watching you throughout your journey’s and if you perform well, no matter how you do in the competition you may be offered an internship opportunity within the group. We also have three €10,000 awards up for grabs, not a bad bonus for winning, right?
What’s new this year?
This year instead of having a case for each award we only have one case but do not fret, this gives you a great amount of freedom in your project.
Rather than having to apply for one award in particular, having one case allows you to compete for all three awards! Or in other words, gives you a shot at winning €30,000!
This also means within your team you don’t have to be specialized in the same area. For example, one member could focus on Technology while the others on Sustainability. We are really giving you the freedom to choose whether you want to specialize your project or not!
So what’s stopping you from joining the Brandstorm adventure?
Apply Now!
While you’re down here check out our social channels for all sorts of content including insider tips:
Instagram:
Facebook:
