Contacts
University

From Powder to Oil, with a Drop of Water

, by Susanna Della Vedova, translated by Jenna Walker
With this idea, three Marketing Management students won the national finals for the "Brandstorm" competition organized by L'Oréal. In June they will fly to Paris for the international finals

They leave on 18 June for Paris and for 4 days they will represent Italy at the international finals for Brandstorm, a competition organized by L'Oréal. Three Bocconi students were chosen as the winners of the Italian section. The students are classmates in the Master of Science in Marketing Management. A total of 450 students divided into three groups participated in the Italian competition, but an innovative idea with an excellent marketing plan was chosen as the winner, submitted by Susanna Dari, Giulia Rosati and Stefano Rugiu.

Before being submitted to the competition, it was part of a curricular exam, a group project that forced them to apply themselves and apply the theories they had studies in their textbooks day and night. "You can't really call them wild nights, but they were nights filled with work, research, analysis and debate," the three students say. Their idea was to produce a hair oil product that starts as a powder making it easier to transport, with lower production and packaging costs and that can even be sold in countries with a developing economy. "But most importantly," they say, "it can be marketed in a country where L'Oréal is unknown: India."

They trusted the skills they had acquired over the years and took advantage of the international environment that they are involved in. "We have lots of friends who are Indian, so we asked them what kind of cosmetic product is missing that they would like to have. The response was a hair oil product."

After they passed the classroom exam, they also passed the various tests in front of L'Oréal's top management. The group was one of the top three teams in the competition, and went on to win after presenting their project to the national director. The three finalist groups included two groups with Bocconi representatives and one group of students from Università degli Studi di Torino.

"We were and still are excited and proud of ourselves and our work," they say. "Almost more so than if we had discussed our thesis in front of our professors. It was a unique experience, and we hope we do well in Paris, not only for us, but also for Bocconi and for Italy!"

University