L’Oréal invite students to invent future of beauty

Beauty giant L'Oréal is calling on students across the world to take part in its innovation competition and be mentored by the brand's digital experts to create the future of beauty shopping.

This is the 29th year that L'Oréal's Brandstorm competition has taken place, and this year students are invited to Invent the Beauty Shopping Experience through Entertainment, exploring the world of retail and e-commerce.

Over recent years, Brandstorm has morphed from a marketing competition into a disruptive tech challenge, mirroring L'Oréal's own ambition to become a ‘BeautyTech Company'. Last year, Brandstorm saw 47,800 registered participants across 65 countries.

Commenting on the launch of the Brandstorm 2021 competition, Jean-Claude Le Grand, L'Oréal's Executive Vice-President Human Relations, says: 

“At L'Oréal, we are convinced that the younger generations hold the keys to the future. At a time of economic uncertainty in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, L'Oréal is more than ever committed to supporting young people at the start of their professional lives, offering a professional experience that will allow them to develop and grow.”

Lubomira Rochet, Chief Digital Officer of L'Oréal, adds: 

“Gaming, live-streaming, Augmented Reality and digital services are going to transform the online shopping experience into something totally new, much more engaging, interactive, fun and paced in between a TV show, a live music festival and a video game. For this new edition of Brandstorm, we invite students to crack the challenge of reinventing the online shopping experience through entertainment. I cannot wait to discover the exciting ideas they will come up with.

“Whatever the school or university, whatever the major or background, we invite every student to join Brandstorm 2021, and play this exciting game. With this edition, we look forward to building bridges between the young generation and the professional world, encouraging students to use their creativity, explore their entrepreneurial skills, and learn to work in a team.”

L'Oréal's digital experts will mentor the students, offering them the benefit of years of experience in the world of retail and e-commerce. For the first time, students have a choice of inventing new products or services, inventing new business models, or inventing new experiences inspired by the entertainment trend.

Finalists will have the opportunity to pitch their projects to a jury of L'Oréal Executive Committee members. The winning team will receive the L'Oréal Intrapreneurship Award and have the opportunity to develop their project during an immersive mission in Paris at the L'Oréal headquarters and at Station F, the world's largest start-up campus. 

Registration is open until 15th March 2021.