L’Oréal Brandstorm Case Study: Where Psychometrics Met Precision

Each year, thousands of students wait for it. Prepare for it. Talk about it.

L’Oréal Brandstorm isn’t just another competition. It’s the opportunity, a direct ticket to global exposure, mentorship from leaders, and a shot at the showdown in Paris.

But what powers this experience from behind the scenes? In this case study, we will see how L’Oréal crafted this high-impact campus engagement in partnership with Unstop.

A legacy in the making

2020, that’s when it all started!

L’Oréal partnered with Unstop to launch Brandstorm in India, intending to build a management trainee pipeline that’s diverse, bold, and built for the future.

From Day 1, Unstop managed it end-to-end:

• Branding & buzz creation
• Nationwide student reach
• Faciliatated registrations, evaluations & communication
• Shortlisting and funnel tracking

All of it, tracked on a single dashboard - engagement metrics, candidate performance, and psychometric scores at every round.

This wasn’t a listing. It was a launchpad for future leaders.

Year-on-year growth: The storm that kept growing

L’Oréal Brandstorm turns bold thinkers into business changemakers on a global stage. Open to MBA 1st and 2nd-year students under 30, it’s a chance to crack live challenges in beauty-tech, get mentored by industry leaders, and pitch ideas that can shape the future.

The 2025 mission?

“Men. Beauty & Care. Game On Through Tech, Products And Beyond.”

The ask: Reimagine how men experience grooming with fresh ideas, inclusive thinking, and tech-driven solutions.

For students, it’s a career-defining playground.

For L’Oréal, it’s a sneak peek into high-potential talent in action, under pressure.

And the growth tells its own story.

From 3,251 registrations in 2020 to 71,177 in 2025, Brandstorm has become more than a competition, it’s a talent engine, an innovation lab, and a hiring funnel rolled into one.

2025: A turning point in talent curation

While the momentum kept growing, this year marked a big leap:

L’Oréal introduced Unstop’s Psychometric Assessments for the first time.

Because when you are selecting future leaders from 71,000+ registrations, you need more than resumes and instincts.

You need precision.

Psychometrics gave them:

• Deeper insights into problem-solving, leadership, and thinking style
  
• Standardized evaluations across thousands of candidates
  
• Sharper shortlists that aligned with L’Oréal’s global vision

Traditional shortlisting often relies on gut feeling and past records. But with psychometrics, L’Oréal added an objective lens. One that revealed hidden leadership potential and cultural fit even before the first interview.

One platform. One partnership. Multiple touchpoints.

L’Oréal doesn’t rely on a single touchpoint to build its talent pipeline. With Unstop, they found an end-to-end ecosystem from brand building to hiring, all in one place.

Together, we have partnered to run 3 flagship campus engagements (including Brandstorm), each tailored to a different audience: engineers, MBA students, and beyond.

• Sustainability Challenge: Aligned with L’Oréal’s global sustainability vision, this all-digital competition has seen 9 successful editions, engaging undergrad and postgrad students across disciplines.

• Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) Program: A 12-month rotational journey, exclusively for engineers, designed to fast-track careers within L’Oréal’s Operations function.

That's what makes this case unique. L’Oréal could attract, engage, assess, and hire. Seamlessly. On a single platform.

What other brands can learn 

L’Oréal’s playbook wasn’t built overnight. But with the right platform, they were able to:

• Turn competitions into conversion funnels
• Go beyond CVs using behavioral data
• Keep candidates seamlessly engaged from first click to final call

And the best part? 

No fragmented systems. No missed follow-ups. No talent slipping through the cracks. Here’s what you can take from L’Oréal’s journey:

• Create brand recall that actually sticks
• Reach and engage top talent across the country
• Add science to your shortlists with psychometrics
• Manage it all in one place, without juggling platforms

Ready to create your Brandstorm?

Whether you want to engage 500 students or 50,000... Unstop can help you identify the best, build brand visibility, and run end-to-end campaigns.

Let’s turn your hiring into a story worth sharing. 

Contact us at sales@unstop.com if you would like to organize a hackathon or any other engagement to meet your hiring targets.