SMU’s Team &TANGLED has emerged as the National Champion of L’Oréal Brandstorm 2018 and will be flying the Singapore flag at the prestigious International Final in Paris this month.

The team comprises undergraduates Cherie Hui (3^rd year, Business), Jessica Lim Jia Yi (3^rd year, Business) and Law Xin Ye (3^rd year, Economics), all of whom are majoring in Marketing at SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business. The trio clinched the coveted first place in the national competition after beating 20 teams from various local universities.

Entering into its 17th year in Singapore, L’Oréal had this year introduced ‘Innovation Fair’ pitching, which is a whole new selection mode introduced by the organiser that is the complete opposite of a classic presentation in front of the jury. Based on the model of tech fairs, young innovators have the opportunity to ‘pitch their projects’ and to convince the judges consisting of L'Oréal executives and brand experts. The top 5 teams from the Innovation Fair then moved on to the National Finals where the National Champion was selected.

Besides Team &TANGLED, another team from SMU – The Inner Circle – was also featured as one of the Top 5 finalists at the National Finals. This team comprised Anna Francesca Santiago (4^th year, Business), Beryln Tee Qing Yu (4^th year, Economics) and Isabella Sim Zi Ying (4^th year, Business).

Brandstorm is an international business competition by L'Oréal and is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious marketing competitions, where students have to create detailed business strategies and are offered the opportunity to undergo coaching by top L’Oréal executives. Having grown Brandstorm into one of the world’s biggest competitions for students with over 154,000 participants from more than 60 countries over the last 26 years, L'Oréal has transformed this business competition into a unique innovation experience. This year, 34,700 Brandstorm participants worldwide have been challenged by L’Oréal to formulate sustainable initiatives and innovative digital solutions to conceive the customer experience for the professional salon of the future.

Over a period of six months, contestants first work in teams to create a concept, confront their ideas and work on the feasibility of their projects. All the finalist teams from around the world then gather for the International Final in Paris, where they will take part in a Tech Fair event and pitch their ideas in front of a judging panel.

The SMU trio from &TANGLED conceptualised an invention to achieve accuracy and personalisation in hair colour results, providing great value to both salons and end consumers. With this technology, the team proposes to make the salon experience a co-creation between hairdressers and consumers. Their creativity and strong marketing pitch clearly won over the judges.

“The L’Oreal Brandstorm 2018 is a great platform to design solutions that could transform the beauty industry. Through our journey, we learnt more about the brand and was able to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in SMU beyond our classroom context. We are really thankful for the support of our professors, friends and family, and are very thrilled to be representing Singapore on the international stage!” said the team.

Heartiest congratulations to Team &TANGLED and best wishes to them as they prepare for stiff competition at the International Final in Paris on 17 May!

[Featured photo: L’Oréal Brandstorm National Champion – SMU Team &TANGLED, comprising (L-R) Jessica Lim, Cherie Hui and Law Xin Ye.]