L'Oréal Brandstorm is a Global Innovation Challenge, an initiative of the L'Oréal Group that aims to offer the participants an experience and an opportunity to innovate in the beauty-tech industry. It enhances participants' entrepreneurial skills and creativity skills, making them ready for the real world.

The competition echoes the L’Oréal philosophy of innovation, entrepreneurship, and excellence to make beauty universal thereby defining the future. It is equally challenging as today’s evolving business landscape so you can try yourselves on a real case that businesses are facing today! We hope you will learn, innovate, and enjoy this mission! 

The program is supported through strong mentorship from senior management, brand managers, and HR throughout the competition journey, which is divided into domestic and international rounds.

Brandstorm mission – what we expect from you 

Your Brandstorm 2025 mission is to: MEN. BEAUTY & CARE. GAME ON THROUGH TECH, PRODUCTS AND BEYOND

It’s time to rewrite the rules of Beauty & Care. Men need to be as invested in looking and feeling their best and deserve products and routines that speak directly to them. This is your chance to create a future where men’s grooming takes center stage. Are you ready to break down stereotypes and empower men to embrace self-care?

Join the L'Oréal Brandstorm 2025 Innovation Challenge, open to all under 30, and collaborate in teams of three to reshape the future of beauty and fast-track your career.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Students and working professionals can register for the competition online through this link: https://brandstorm.loreal.com
• Participants must register themselves individually on the platform first and then form teams of 3
• Brandstorm 2025 is open to:
  • 1st and 2nd year MBA students
  • Working professionals (full-time or self-employed/freelance) under the age of 29 in business roles
  • Engineering students
  • Students of Business, Marketing, Digital Marketing, and E-commerce aged 18-25
• You cannot participate in this competition if:
• • You have already participated in the Competition in a previous year and reached the international finals 
  • You are an employee of - L'ORÉAL and its Affiliates 
  • You are a trainee and/or student who did an internship at L'ORÉAL in the department of the brand or division concerned, and/or exercised a relevant function linked to the case study subject matter during the two (2) years preceding the Competition 
• Teams need to submit their ideas on https://brandstorm.loreal.com
• The format for the submission is a 3-slide PDF along with a video (Duration: 3 minute) of your team explaining the idea
• All the deliverables must be done in English
• The presentations submitted to the organizers at every stage of the competition must be compliant with the guidelines that will be shared during the competition and comply with intellectual property

Team Formation Guidelines:

• Each participant is allowed to register for one team ONLY
• The participants can be from any specialization
• Students in one team should belong to the same campus. Inter-campus teams are not allowed to participate
• There is no restriction on the number of teams from an institute
• Only entries submitted before the due date will be considered for evaluation. Any exception to this will be purely at the discretion of the management
• If the participant is found to have plagiarized any aspect of their entry, the participant will be disqualified
• The final eligibility of the participant will be subject to the discretion and approval of the management
• Any extensions in the deadlines will be at the sole discretion of the management
• All information related to timelines/case rules will be updated on the Unstop website and L'Oréal's Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn pages

Stages:

Each team needs to register and successfully complete each stage.

Stage 1: Registration 

• Go to the Platform: https://brandstorm.loreal.com
• Click on the log-in button at the top right corner or scroll down for the Registration button and follow the registration procedure. Fill in the registration form, providing all necessary information for managing participation
• Click on [SIGN UP] to confirm their registration
• Participants must register themselves individually on the platform first and then form teams of 3
• Release of the case:
  • Additionally, participants get access to confidential data and materials to help them execute their pitch and presentation.

Stage 2: Case Submission

• All teams are requested to represent case solutions briefly on a 3-slide PDF along with a video (Duration: 3 minutes) of your team explaining the idea
• You can add additional slides for the cover and appendix i.e maximum slide limit is 5-slide
• Teams need to submit their ideas at https://brandstorm.loreal.com

Stage 3: Masterclass by L'Oréal Leaders: The Masterclass will offer the participants a chance to refine their presentation skills and gain valuable insights for optimizing their submissions.

Stage 4: Detailed Submission: Shortlisted teams must fine-tune their deck and the 3-minute video and submit. Details for the same will be shared with the shortlisted teams over email. Shortlisted teams will move to the next phase where they present in front of the jury. 

Stage 5: Semi-Finals: Shortlisted teams will present in front of the jury during the Semi-Final, with the top 6 teams advancing to the next round.

Stage 6: Mentorship: The L'Oréal team will assign mentors and coaches to guide these 6 teams in refining their submissions.

Stage 7: National Finals: The top 6 teams will compete for the National Grand Finale. Teams will be presenting their solutions to the eminent jury members from L'Oréal India.

Final Stage: Worldwide Finals

• International Finals: The national winner will be invited to join the International finals.

What are we expecting from you?

• Innovative - We want your team to be bold and bring to the table products and solutions never seen
  before.
• Sustainable – We want your team to take responsibility and be mindful of the impact that your project will have on the planet.
• Inclusive – We want your team to be mindful of diverse needs in our society to not exclude any
  particular social groups (gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic and multicultural origins, people with disability, all ages & generations...), and to make your project as equally accessible as possible to all potential users.
• Feasible – We want your project to be realistic and possible to implement.
• Scalable – We want your team to present a project realizable on a big scale.

Please bear in mind the relevance of the project regarding the division and market’s needs, the team spirit, and the general appearance of the presentation. In the event that there are several submissions with the same score, the jury will be free to decide which project they want to select. 
 
The evaluation will be the same regardless of whether the presentation is held in person or online.  For the World Final only, in addition to the criteria mentioned above, the jury members will be able to grant a “special like” to the projects of their choice. 

Rewards:

• MEGA AWARD - Intrapreneurship Award: During the Worldwide Final, one prize will be awarded to the Winning Team according to the criteria mentioned above. The reward will be an Intrapreneurship program. The winning Team will get the opportunity to work (an appropriate type of contract, collaboration, internship agreement or any other type of agreement will be proposed to each winning team member depending on their profile) in one of L'ORÉAL head offices as any L'ORÉAL employee. This award gives the opportunity to live an intrapreneurship experience with L'ORÉAL experts. L'ORÉAL will have all reserved rights on all the intellectual property built by the students during the Competition if any. L'ORÉAL will assign mentors and coaches to guide the Participants throughout the program. The Participants of the program will be paid according to L'ORÉAL payroll standards. More information on this will be given throughout the competition
• Get Spotted: National Winners will be extended Pre-Placement Interview Offers for the L’Oréal India Management Trainee Position-Batch 2026 and will also get the opportunity to compete against other national finalists from different countries in the battle for the title of International Winner in Paris. L’Oréal India also extends PPIs to select students from the Preliminary Rounds, depending upon their individual performance during the competition
• Build Your Network: Connect with the L’Oréal Leadership and Students from 65+ countries at the International Finals. Last but not least, live the life of a Brand Manager through the Competition Journey and learn, from close quarters, how L’Oréal is leading innovation in beauty