TEAM THGH, composed of communication senior Emmanuel Hilao and communication juniors Vida Alegre and Thurees Obenza, won second place in the national finals of L’Oreal Brandstorm 2015 held at the Skye Lounge, Bonifacio Global City on March 26.
The team won a trip to Bali, Indonesia and received select L’Oreal products.
In addition, management senior Sam Sebastian of another Ateneo group, Team Wayferers, was recognized as the Best Speaker.
Team Wayferers is composed of Sebastian, and management engineering seniors Julie Lim and Nicole Sy.
Brandstorm is an international marketing competition hosted by French cosmetics and beauty company L’Oreal Group.
This year’s challenge was centred on how to market L’Oreal perfume brand Lancôme via travel retail.
According to Brandstorm 2015 Project Manager Wacky Narciso, “[Brandstorm] not only gives you a chance to test your academic prowess, but it also gives you a chance to test how far you can push yourself to reach a goal.”
The top six teams out of 117 entries from the Ateneo, De La Salle University (DLSU) and the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD), together with the winner of the Wild Card Challenge, went on to the national finals.
The Wild Card Challenge opened the doors of Brandstorm to colleges aside from Ateneo, DLSU and UPD. This year’s wild card is from the University of Asia and the Pacific.
Team Stormsurge from UPD took home the national championship for Brandstorm 2015 and will head to Paris, France for the international finals.
Ateneo’s pitches
Team THGH presented their “Travel beautiful” campaign, which aimed to bring Lancôme to women who suffer from travel distress to “make her feel beautiful and at ease as she travels.”
To accomplish this, Team THGH extended their proposed advertisements to airline booking, mobile applications and social media.
They also intended to provide exclusive rewards to Lancôme consumers and set up an interactive website where users can virtually sample the brand.
The team’s proposal also featured an integration into the consumers’ travel experience, wherein a virtual attendant will advise the consumer on the apt product to use at her destination and how to apply it.
On the other hand, Team Wayferers’ proposal revolved around a new Lancôme product line called Saisons de la vie, which promotes “positive beauty for all seasons.”
Targeted for travelling women, Saisons de la vie features a product line for each season, namely winter, spring, desert climate and tropical climate.
Each product line takes the form of a small customizable kit, intended to be a travel companion.
The team will promote the product lines by sending text notifications to the travelling women prior to their flight, placing advertisements in the airport and constructing an innovative Lancôme store inside the airport with shells dedicated for each season. The store will also have a virtual version on a mobile application.
Team Wayferers believes Saisons de la vie will make Lancôme “the face of travel retail.”
