What started as an extracurricular activity has turned into a trip to Paris and national recognition for three seniors.
Alex Sun and Jeff Hammock, both seniors in Wharton and the College, and Vijay Patel, an Engineering and Wharton senior, took first place at the U.S. national finals of the L'Oreal Brandstorm Marketing Award in New York City on May 13. They will compete on the international level against teams from over 30 countries from June 18 to 20 in Paris.
The competition allows undergraduates to assume the role of brand manager for one of L'Oreal's product lines. This year, the contestants' task was to revitalize the Studio Line of hair care products, making it more appealing to younger people and men.
"We thought it would just be fun, different. None of us are majoring in marketing," Patel said of the students' casual entrance into the competition, which they discovered through a Wharton e-mail.
After winning at the Penn level in January, the three friends went on to compete against six other U.S. teams this month.
The team's winning project included a revamping of existing Studio Line products as well as the introduction of a product line extension, which they called Rx.
The Rx line featured three separate products to protect hair from sun, humidity and the smell of cigarette smoke.
According to Sun, the team went to friends to find out what is missing in hair-care products today.
"None of us are big hair-care users," Sun said.
But the team believes they had an advantage because they were representative of the demographic they were targeting ? young and male.
When it came time to present their project to L'Oreal executives, Patel said he thinks that the team's sense of humor distinguished them from their competitors.
"The good thing about marketing is its supposed to be fun and creative. You're supposed to laugh," Patel said.
"We made fun of ourselves a lot," he added. "Three guys with bad hair."
But the competition was not all fun and games ? the team had to work on their project through final exams and senior week.
"It was definitely pretty intense," Sun said.
"We became more and more confident" as the competition went on, Patel said, but winning "was still a surprise."
Regarding the Paris competition next month, Patel said that even as pressure mounts, the team plans to maintain the jovial attitude that took them to first place in the U.S.
"The competition gets much more serious ... we're really just going to have a good time," Patel said.
"If anything, we just got a free trip," he added.
The L'Oreal Brandstorm Marketing Award is in its 13th year, its 3rd open to U.S. teams.
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