How far can your ideas take you? This was the question broached to the six competing teams from the top universities in the country—University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University——at the L’Oréal Brandstorm National Finals gala night at the Enderun Colleges Atrium on March 8.

It’s the 20th year of L’Oréal Brandstorm, an annual marketing competition where collegiate teams are tasked to develop an innovative new product line and a corresponding marketing campaign.

The international brand The Body Shop was the brand of choice for this year.

The competition started at the university finals level, wherein the top two finalists from each school were picked to participate in the nationals.

The six teams were Team APEX and Team MAGISYAN from AdMU, Team EVES and Team MOVE from UP, and Team ZEN and Team MASTERMIND from DLSU.

The teams took the stage to present their creative product ideas and campaigns to an audience composed of family, schoolmates, the press and an esteemed panel of judges.

The judges were people from the cosmetic and advertising industry: L’Oréal Philippines managing director Luc-Olivier Marquet, L’Oreal Philippines HR general manager Tina Ampil,  The Body Shop managing director Michael Muñoz, McCann Worldgroup  president Fernando Villar.

Festive night

The event was hosted by a delightful bunch of graduates from each of the three universities: Maia Ang of AdMU, Naesa Orlina of UP, and Austin Uy of DLSU. The Philippine All Stars were joined by dance troupes from each participating university, and model/DJ group The Zombettes provided the night’s entertainment.

The six teams collaborated with advertising giant McCann Erickson in developing their respective campaigns.

After pouring their hearts and ideas out in marketing presentations they had worked on for months, and amid cheers from supporters and playful rivalry-inducing jabs from the hosts, everyone settled down (with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres to boot) to await the announcement of the winners.

Before the awarding,  Marquet took the stage to congratulate all the teams for their hard work over the past few months.

Special awards went to Rizelle Malabanan from the DLSU Team Zen for Best Speaker, and UP Team EVES for Best Communication Campaign.

Team EVES also won the People’s Choice award that night with over 3,000 likes for their online poster on the L’Oréal Talent Recruitment Facebook fanpage.

UP Team MOVE was second runner-up title, and won a relaxing trip to Boracay this summer care of L’Oréal. Team APEX from Ateneo de Manila was first runner-up, and will get to explore cosmopolitan Hong Kong and Macau as their reward.

After months of hard work, the suspense finally ended for the finalists, and the team to represent the Philippines in Paris for the International Finals was revealed.

The title National Champion was awarded to Team EVES from UP. Winning team members Ivania Sy, Regina Dimayuga and Stephanie Gabaldon were awarded by the National Jury, and will begin training to compete against 41 other countries at the International Finals this June 13 for a chance to win the top international L’Oréal Brandstorm marketing award and a 10,000-euro trip to anywhere in the world.

“The winning team had a very complete approach,” said  Marquet.

“From market analysis to brand, they completely respected the equity of the brands; they had very interesting advocacy for The Body Shop, as well,” he said.

When asked what they are most looking forward to when they take Paris by storm to join the International competition, Team Eves had one simple and very determined answer: “Winning it.”