Brand-conscious...but in a good way

MANILA, Philippines - Since the launch of its annual Brandstorm competition in 1993, ruler of the cosmetics cosmos L’Oreal has gotten college students worldwide to experience the dirty work and drama behind the beauty business. To date, over 43,000 students have forged ahead in what is considered “the biggest marketing competition” in the world. After university undergrad or graduate students regardless of course have formed teams of three and registered online, these entrants are given the turbulent task of acting as marketing managers for one of L’Oreal’s global brands, the objective being to create a product and conceptualize a communications campaign for it. 

Brandstorm 2011 is the third season in which the Philippines is a participant, the competitive intensity rising as the number of joining teams have increased steadily since the first (51 teams in 2009 compared to this year’s 149). You round up several hundred cred-hungry kids in their early 20s from Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, and the University of the Philippines, have them battle it out for five months in a top-brand cosmetics coliseum with all the real-deal corporate resources, and dangle the incentive of representing the country at the competition’s international finals in Paris, and you can imagine some reality show drama going on — minus the intro cast montage and camera-captured confessions, of course.

Of Mentoring and Men’s Treatments

More than just any extracurricular activity that takes a couple hours away from a student’s week, Brandstorm presents quite the hyper-curricular undertaking. A project becomes high stakes when you and a couple schoolmates are taken from classroom to conference room and strapped into a turbo internship of sorts; and for a colossal company at that. “(L’Oreal) really simulated an environment that was creatively corporate,” says Supreme’s assistant editor Raymond Ang, a former AdMU student and member of one of Brandstorm 2010’s national finalists challenged to develop a men’s skincare line for Diesel. “Because the people who usually enter it are college juniors and seniors, it was the first real application of what you learn in school. Kinakapa mo yung industry that you want to work in, especially ‘cause we were judged on everything, from delivery to our clothes, from our PowerPoint to our product.”

With students this year assigned to come up with an experimental marketing plan for a “men’s-only salon experience,” the challenge wasn’t just to get guys to drop a product in their shopping carts but to have them take up an actual treatment. At the university finals last December, the six teams picked from the three participating universities looked to have the right plans and respective range of products under L’Oreal Professionnel Homme that could get the no-fuss sex to give a damn about grooming. And after months of balancing academics and aesthetics, modifying their male service marketing by working with partner agency McCann Worldgroup Philippines and undergoing a two-day beauty biz workshop at L’Oreal Philippines’ headquarters, De La Salle University’s Extreme Team proved it had weathered the demands of Brandstorm’s national jury through its face-saving shaving service Neoxea.  

Product and Personal Development

By seizing this year’s Brandstorm-ian theme of “thinking beyond,” Team Extreme’s Austin Uy, Pixie Erana, and Elise Veloso were now going the great beyond. After getting more beauty schooling from L’Oreal before the international finals, the team will take their winning idea to Paris to compete with teams from 41 other countries all vying for a chance at a 10,000-euro trip to anywhere in the world as well as a stint working as a management trainee at L’Oreal. The five other national finalists at the awarding party, however, could still clink their cocktails to their considerable success. In this age of self-promotion, when most anyone who grew up weaned on the web considers themselves worthy marketers, here was a breed of young men and women who’d put their marketing plans where there mouths were. Sure, there was the glamour of mixing with execs from a big, bad vanity brand like L’Oreal as well as the glitz of an awarding party in RepubliQ last March 17 — class-act saxophonist, singer, and gratis styling at salon stations included — but more than all the stuff that would make a great high-living, high-pressure reality show is the opportunity to work in the professional real world.

Of course, behind the business of looking good, it can get pretty ugly, so Young Star got this year’s top teams together again to pay reverence to the half year of hard work they churned out and to serve up some quotage on the men’s service they’d had to create. And where better a place to come together than at the original hub for men’s grooming: the barbershop.

TEAM EXTREME from DLSU

“We wanted a name that was in line with Brandstorm’s theme ‘Think Beyond’”: Pixie Erana, IV Applied Economics and Advertising Management; Austin Uy, IV Advertising Management; Elise Veloso, IV Marketing Management.

Brandstorm 2011 Champion and Best Communications Campaign

Pixie Erana, 22; Austin Uy, 22; Elise Veloso, 21

Mentor: Anlex Basilio, Marketing Department, College of Business and Economics

The concept: “We provided an alternative to shaving — a hair removal service in the salon that readies the pores before the main epilation process, using a disc with gum texture so our NX professional can stretch the skin and follow the contours of the man’s face. It desensitizes hair follicles and gets to hard-to-reach areas. Then we use a tonic with enzymes that trick hair follicles and tells them it’s not yet time to grow.” — Pixie

Product of success: “The judges liked the fact that our product, as a whole, was very consistent. And that we’re actually answering a problem of a man.” — Austin

“We kept on emphasizing the fact that sophistication and simplicity aren’t two different things — you can be both at the same time. We kept cutting products out ‘til we reached the most simple and practical service. It also helps that we’re all from student government so we understood why one wasn’t available for meetings.” — Elise

Kar pool: Carla Sia, IV BS Business Administration; Karissa Bautista, IV BS Industrian Engineering; Kara Limchiu, V BS Chemical Engineering.

TEAM CARGO from UP Diliman (1st runner-up)

Karissa Bautista, 22;

Kara Limchiu, 21; Carla Sia, 21

Mentor: Raymund Acedera, College of Business Administration

The concept: “Our line is called Magnetox, it’s very futuristic and was inspired by magnets and our proposition is your hair can turn into a magnet — you can attract the world, not just girls but also opportunities. Our products are called Repel which cleanses, Attract which we’ve induced with pheromones, and Spin which allows guys to style their hair.” — Carla

Team edge: “We’re a holistic team, (we think) that marketing is just so much more than the business side. Our selling point is that we have a lot of perspectives, we don’t think alike.” — Carla

Special team awards: “Most out of the box award goes to Kara, and I would give Carla the best in Q&A.” — Karissa

“I would give Karissa the team leader award, and to Carla, the best speaker award.” — Kara

“Karissa would get the mom of the team award, and for Kara the out of the box award.” — Carla

TEAM WADE from UP Diliman (2nd runner-up)

Gelo, Mian, and Leigh are all third year Business Administration students.

Mian Molina, 20;

Leigh Wong, 21;

Gelo Avendano, 18

Mentor: Nick Falcis, College of Business Administration

The concept: “Our line of products, including the service, is called Construction. Our whole concept is the L’Oreal cement, a gray clay empowered by the tribine complex. We created our own technology to be put on men’s hair, which is this semi-permanent hair wax. Our insight is that men find it inconvenient to style their hair every day, so what we’re offering a one-stop hairstyling that will last for four to six weeks.” — Mian

Team edge: “Since this is our team’s first exposure to marketing, we could be the fresh, innovative, and out-of-the-box team. Given that our competition is very experienced, we have the perseverance to keep on striving, to match what they have to offer.” — Leigh

Special Awards: “I’d give Gelo the most artistically skilled award, and for Leigh, the most… charming.” — Mian

“Gelo is the most hardworking, he’s the one who doesn’t sleep. Mian would get the mommy award because she took care of us.” — Leigh

“I’d give Mian the most poised award, and for Leigh, the heartthrob of Brandstorm!” — Gelo

Cut and dry: Bianca, IV Communication Arts and Marketing Management; Lorenz, V Organizational Communication and Marketing Management.

TEAM NOMAD from DLSU

Bianca Rodriguez, 21; Lawrence de Castro, 21; Marga Marasigan, 21

The concept: “We invented a service called Precision, an entire hair-cutting experience that’s completely dry, so instead of water, we use the Precision Force Tool, a steam vacuum that allows experience to be dry. We’ve discovered that dry-cutting is a rare technique that’s perfect for curly or frizzy hair, because when you get your hair wet and it isn’t straight, it tends to hide imperfections, so we wanted to introduce a new technique especially for that.” — Bianca

 Team edge: “We like to look sophisticated, and have an appearance of sophistication.” — Bianca

Special team awards: “Critical thinker award goes to Marga, and most industrious goes to Bianca.” — Lawrence

“Most visual award goes to Lawrence, since he did all our PowerPoints, and critical thinker award goes to Marga for me, too.” — Bianca

TEAM ABSOLUTE from ADMU

“We’ve all been friends since high school and we all lived in the same building”: Chio Cebrero, IV AB Communications; Sam Garcia, IV BS Management.

Chio Cebrero, 21; Sam Garcia, 21; Gliza Marasigan, 20.

Mentor: Alex Lim, Marketing & Law Department, John Gokongwei School of Management

The concept: “Our product is called Alpha. It makes use of ultra-natural straightening and it’s different ‘cause it actually straightens from the root, meaning that re-growth is straight. It lasts for up to six months.” Chio

“When we got to the root of it, guys who had coarse or wavy hair said that when they styled their hair, it didn’t stay the way they wanted it to.” — Sam

Product problems: “The jury thought that the product was more appropriate for women ‘cause women would keep coming back for it. I think that straightening is too new a concept for men.” — Sam

Getting schooled: “Ateneo’s never won a top spot. The comment that we got was that Ateneans over-complicate things and talk too much, maybe. Our team was very fickle also. We changed our concept throughout every stage of the competition. So our product at the end was very different from the product at the start.” — Sam

Hair-raisers: Mara, IV BS Management Engineering; Richard, IV BS Comm Tech; Chesca Santos, IV BS Management Engineering.

TEAM MRF from ADMU

Richard Francisco, 20;

Chesca Santos, 20;

Mara Villaverde, 20.

Mentor: Robby Galang, Leadership and Strategy Department, John Gokongwei School of Management

The concept: “A hair-engineering system called Ingenieur 2.0 — we incorporated two active ingredients that reinforce hair growth and improves their condition. Men don’t usually spend much time in salons so we brought something very medical to them that they can go to every month.” — Richard 

Product problems: “The critique was that we didn’t use an innovative technology. In defense of our product, the difference was the strategy — we targeted barbershops and salons, and also older men. Most of the treatments in the market now are take-home, aren’t specified for men, and have a very high price.” — Chesca

Special team awards: “Most scandalous award goes to Mara. Siya yung pinaka-walang shame sa amin be it in performing or language.” — Chesca

“Look-alike award goes to Chesca… for looking like Rica Peralejo.” — Mara