Branded for life

MANILA, Philippines - L’Oreal concluded the 2011 season of its Brandstorm Competition after selecting Team Extreme, a delegation from De La Salle University, to represent the country in Paris for the world finals.

The 2010 edition sent the University of the Philippines’ Team GUN, composed of Naesa Orlina, Carlos Bautista, and Emil Erasmo, to defend their skincare line designed for Diesel. The group exceeded expectations, proceeding to place fifth on the world stage. This year, L’Oreal is optimistic that the Philippine team will present another exceptional product and service line — and hopefully take home the championship on it’s third try. After all, they don’t say “third time’s a charm” for nothing.

The L’OREAL Brandstorm 2011 Philippine National Finalists

Young STAR speaks with Luc-Olivier Marquet, managing director of L’Oreal, and Cristina Ampil, general manager for L’Oreal Philippines, about Brandstorm 2011.

Q: What is Brandstorm?

Luc: This year’s challenge was to create not only a product that was unique about this year, but also a service for L’Oreal Professionnel.

Tina: The objective for us is to spot talent in the universities.

L’OREAL Professionnel’s Technico Artists provided the sleek styling for the finalists for the evening

Q: Why choose only ADMU, UP and DLSU?

Luc: The ambition is to be able to expand. We are not here to say that the most talented students are from these three universities only. The only thing is, in terms of resources, it’s a very tedious process. But we are very much interested in expanding to Visayas and Mindanao.

Q: What are the qualities that L’Oreal is looking for?

Tina: It’s looking into potential marketers — students should be able to analyze the market and understand the brand. They have to have a level of strategic thinking and be able to translate their research into a product, and defend their case in a clear and concise manner.

L’OREAL Paris is the official make-up partner for the event

Q: What are your thoughts on this year’s finalists?

Luc: The level of creativity this year was two steps higher than in the previous years. It makes our lives very difficult to choose which team will go to Paris, as the gap between their averages was very narrow. I’m always amazed by the creativity, the quality that I see in the Philippines. All these people from the young generation, already very updated — they have very strong marketing mindsets. Their presentation skills seem to be very strong also. 

Team Philippines in action during the semi-final round