L'Oréal Brandstorm 2022

We are extremely pleased to bring to you the 30th edition of Brandstorm - our international innovation case study competition: L'Oréal Brandstorm 2022.

The aim of the competition is to offer to the participants an experience and the opportunity to innovate within the beauty industry. It aims to enhance participants entrepreneurial skills and creativity skills, making them ready for the real world.

The competition echoes the L’Oréal philosophy of innovation, entrepreneurship and excellence to make beauty universal whereby defining the future of marketing.

The program is supported through strong mentorship from senior management, brand managers and HR throughout the competition journey, which is divided into domestic and international rounds.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Students can register for the competition online through this link: https://brandstorm.loreal.com
• Students must register themselves individually on the platform first and then form teams of 3.
• The competition is open to all MBA students of India.
• The competition is open only to first-year MBA students.
• The registrants must fulfil the below criteria:
  
  • Students who have already NOT participated in the Competition in a previous year and reached the international finals
  • Students who have done an internship in the department of the brand, division or relevant function concerned by the case study during the two (2) years preceding the Competition cannot participate in the current edition
• Students need to submit their ideas on https://brandstorm.loreal.com.
• The format for the submission is a 3-slide PDF along with a video (up to 2 minutes only) of your team explaining the idea.
• All the deliverables must be done in English.
• The presentations submitted to the organizers at every stage of the competition must be compliant with the guidelines that will be shared during the competition and comply with intellectual property.

Team Formation Guidelines:

• Students must register themselves individually on the platform first and then form teams of 3 members.
• Each student is allowed to register in one team ONLY.
• The participants can be from any specialization.
• Students in one team should belong to the same campus. Inter-campus teams are not allowed to participate.
• Choose one of the tracks depending on your strengths and interests.
• There is no restriction on the number of teams from an institute.
• Only entries submitted before the due date will be considered for evaluation. Any exception to this will be purely at the discretion of the management.
• If the participant is found to have plagiarized any aspect of their entry, the participant will be disqualified.
• The final eligibility of the participant will be subject to the discretion and approval of the management.
• Any extensions in the deadlines will be at the sole discretion of the management.
• All information related to timelines/case rules will be updated on the Dare2Compete website and L'Oréal Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn page.

Stages:

Each team needs to register and successfully complete each stage.

Stage 1: Registration & Choosing your track

• Go to the Platform: https://brandstorm.loreal.com.
• Click on REGISTER and follow the registration procedure. Fill in the registration form, providing all necessary information for managing the participation.
• Click on [SIGN UP] to confirm their registration.
• Students must register themselves individually on the platform first and then form teams of 3.
• Choose one of the tracks depending on your strengths and interests.
• Release of the case:
• Additionally, to the case, Participants get access to confidential data and materials to help them execute their pitch. The release of the case will take place after the last date for registrations.

Stage 2: Case Submission

• All teams are requested to represent case solutions briefly on a 3-slide PDF along with a video (up to 2 minutes only) of your team explaining the idea.
• This should be along the lines of the track chosen.
• Students need to submit their ideas on brandstorm.loreal.com.

Stage 3: Hackathon

On the basis of the submissions, top teams will be shortlisted for the national hackathon. The selected teams will get an opportunity to present their solutions to a panel and qualify for the national finals. 

Stage 4: National Finals

Shortlisted teams from the Hackathon will compete for the National Grand Finale. Teams will be presenting their solutions to prominent leaders of L'Oréal.

Final Stage: Worldwide Finals

• International Semi-Finals
• The national winners will be invited to join the International semi-final.
• Given the current situation, the format (online or offline) of the semi-final will be decided at later stages.
• The jury that will select the winning projects will be composed of L’Oréal experts and executive managers. L’Oréal employees and the external public could be also invited to vote for their favourite project based on the criteria detailed below. The voting process will be detailed during the competition and will be on a secured digital platform.
• International Finals
• The semi-finals winners will be invited to join the International final.
• Given the current situation, the format (online or offline) of the semi-final will be decided at later stages.

Rewards:

• MEGA AWARD - Intrapreneurship Award: During the Worldwide Final, three prizes, one per track, will be awarded to winners. The reward will be an Intrapreneurship program. The 3 winning teams (1 winning team per track) will get the opportunity to work at L’Oréal head office in France as L’Oréal employees. This award gives the opportunity to live an intrapreneurship experience with L’Oréal experts. L’Oréal will have all reserved rights on all the intellectual property built by the students during the Competition. L’Oréal will assign mentors and coaches to guide students throughout the program. The participants of the program will be paid according to L’Oréal payroll standards. More information on this will be given throughout the competition.
• Get Spotted: National Winners will be extended Pre-Placement Interview Offers for the L’Oréal India Management Trainee Position-Batch 2023. L’Oréal India also extends PPIs to select students from the Preliminary Rounds, depending upon their individual performance during the competition.
• Build Your Network: Connect with the L’Oréal Leadership and Students from 65 countries at the International Finals in Paris. And last but not the least, live the life of a Brand Manager through the Competition Journey and learn, from close quarters, how L’Oréal is leading innovation in beauty.

Judging Criteria:

At each step, the projects will be evaluated out of 10 points. The weighting of the evaluation criteria will vary depending on the track selected by the team, to focus on the topic of the track as detailed below:

Please bear in mind the relevance of the project regarding the division and market’s needs, the team spirit and the general appearance of the presentation. In the case where there are several submissions with the same score, the jury will be free to decide which project they want to select.

The evaluation will be the same regardless of whether the presentation is held in person or online.

For the World Finals only, in addition to the criteria mentioned above, the jury members will be able to grant a “special like” to the projects of their choice.