IIE-Vega’s team Scalp Pro crowned winners of L’Oréal Brandstorm’s national finals
With their big win at the L’Oréal Brandstorm national finals, the IIE-Vega Bordeaux team of Katelyn Klue, Siphokazi Khala, and Rebaone Masisi will travel to Paris for the international finals.
Three IIE-Vega Bordeaux third year students will be representing South Africa at the L’Oréal Brandstorm international finals in June in Paris, France.
Out of more than 200 team entries, the Bordeaux team were crowned the winners at the recent South African national finals, held at L’Oréal South Africa’s head office in Marlboro, Johannesburg.
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L’Oréal Brandstorm is an international competition open to 18 to 30-year-olds worldwide. Each year, participants are challenged to develop ideas for a specific L’Oréal business division. This year, the focus is on men’s beauty and care.
Anli Grobler, head of strategic brand management at IIE-Vega, explained that they took a fresh approach this year, inviting some of the top third year students from each campus to form interdisciplinary teams of three to take on the brief.
Students from the following qualifications were considered: IIE Bachelor of Arts in Strategic Brand Communication, IIE Bachelor of Commerce in Strategic Brand Management, IIE Bachelor of Commerce in Digital Marketing, and IIE Bachelor of Communication Design.
“The teams were asked to identify a challenge within L’Oréal’s men’s beauty and care division. They then had to propose an innovative, inclusive, sustainable, scalable, and feasible solution. Their entry included a three-slide presentation and a three-minute pitch video.”
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Team Scalp Pro, from IIE-Vega Bordeax, was made up of Katelyn Klue, Siphokazi Khala, and Rebaone Masisi. They will receive expert coaching from L’Oréal mentors as they prepare for the international finals in Paris. The global winners will be offered positions at L’Oréal.
While the details of their winning idea remain confidential ahead of the global pitch, the students shared that the experience so far has been transformative.
“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to travel overseas for the first time. The support from our lecturers helped us grow so much,” said Klue.
Masisi felt that presenting their final ideas to an IIE-Vega judging panel, which included their lecturers, helped prepare them for the L’Oréal panel at the national finals. “We were nervous, at first, but once we got into it, we found our flow and connected with the panel.”
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