Meet Team HellRaisers: The International Finalists Of L’Oréal Brandstrom 2022 (Green Track)

L’Oréal Brandstorm 2022 was the 30th edition of the international case study competition that's conducted annually. This time around, the competition was open to MBA students. It was split into 3 tracks, namely- Green track, Inclusion track, and Tech track. Brandstorm is known for its rigor and this year too all teams had to brave multiple rounds to finally enjoy the limelight. 15,000+ starry-eyed MBAs like us started this arduous journey but only a few survived! 

We were a part of the Green track. The final participants included three teams for each track, that is, 9 teams in total. In our track, there was one team from NITIE Mumbai and the other was from IIM Kozhikode. Both of the teams were equally good, and their solutions were quite innovative. 

And finally, there was our team- Team HellRaisers, from NMIMS Mumbai. Throughout the competition, we decided to work hard, without worrying about the results or about what other teams were doing. 

Divide & Conquer To The Win

Our strategy to win L’Oréal Brandstorm 2022 from the get-go was to divide and conquer. We analyzed the situation and figured that we are all good in different areas. And then decided that focussing primarily on those areas would be the most efficient way to go about it. So, Sanyam Jain took on the financial management aspect of our project, while Varsha Praburam took on the responsibility of looking after the marketing & execution aspects. And finally I, Anusha Das decided to handle the design & execution part. 

With this sorted and out of the way, we started conceptualizing what we wanted to put forth in front of the judges in January. It then took us about 2-3 months to polish our idea and come up with something concrete and presentable. 

Familiarity Helped Us Overcome Conflicts

We all had conflicting schedules due to which we were not able to work together as a group as often as we liked. We faced issues with time management initially but the fact that we are all really good friends helped us collaborate well. We overcame the time issues by meeting for brainstorming sessions at pre-determined time slots. And then went on to work on the tasks we discussed, individually in our own time. 

Since we were from the same study group, we had already worked together on numerous occasions. We had prepped assignments, completed tasks, and presentations previously. And hence knew each other’s working styles and also each other's areas of expertise. We used this knowledge to strategize accordingly and made the most of the time we had.

It Is Important To Enjoy The Journey

We believe in enjoying life to the fullest no matter what. We all enjoy sarcasm, it is something that makes our connection better. This combined with the fact that we do not take ourselves too seriously made our L’Oréal Brandstorm journey a lot more fun.

As a result, it did not feel like a competition at all. In fact, we had a lot of fun working during our midnight Zoom sessions. And the fact that we had worked together on multiple occasions as a part of the same study group, was what helped us avoid any major conflicts.

Feedback From Mentoring Sessions Helped Clinch The Trophy!

We were really fortunate to get the opportunity to present our final pitch in front of such an esteemed jury. Also, the format of the competition was very good and worked in our favor. In the semi-finals, the jury told us that our idea was good. But they also let us know that we needed to work on our pitch and some other technicalities. 

This allowed us to recognize our shortcomings and work on them before proceeding to the next step. We then came up with a solid pitch. Also, the feedback that we got at the end of each mentoring session/ round was extremely helpful. We think that is what helped us clinch the title in the end.

Special Moment That Left Us Teary-Eyed

We really did not expect that we would make it to the national finals, and get an opportunity to compete at the international level. We just worked hard without worrying about the results. So when we saw our names on the list, we could not believe it. We were almost teary-eyed.

We guess in the end, you just have to trust the process and most importantly believe in your idea. 

Kudos to Team HellRaisers for their efforts and creative thinking. Here are some other stories you might find interesting:

1. Meet The 20-year Old Guy Who Bagged The D2C Competitive Leader Award 2022 (E-School Track)
2. "Fail Fast And Fail Forward" Says D2C Competitive Leader 2022 Sakshi Poddar From IIM Kashipur
3. IIM Bangalore and NMIMS Mumbai Walk Away With The Trophy Of Reliance T.U.P 7.0
4. Hacking Their Way Through Uber HackTag 2.0, These Top Three Teams Won Cash Prizes Worth INR 5 Lakhs!
5. Top Two Teams Of Mondelez Mavins 2022 Share Some 'Food' For Thought!