This year again, ESCP Business School and L’Oréal together delivered their partnership’s longstanding project and immersive learning experience: L’Oréal Big Picture. Bringing together students from the MSc in Marketing & Creativity (MMK) and the Master in Digital Transformation (MDT), the programme once again challenged participants to think like industry professionals under real-world conditions.
Over the course of an intensive week, students worked in teams to tackle a strategic business challenge set by L’Oréal. From the very first day, the tone was set: this was a fast-paced, high-stakes project grounded in the realities of the marketing world.
A Week of Immersion, Collaboration and Creativity
The experience began with a launch session introducing students to the challenge and the teams they would collaborate with. Over the following days, participants engaged in a series of coaching sessions led by ESCP professors, L’Oréal experts and alumni, combining strategic thinking with hands-on guidance.
The structure of the week reflected the rhythm of real marketing projects. Early stages focused on understanding the problem and defining a clear recommendation, before moving into content creation and storytelling. Midweek, students shifted gears to produce a one-minute video and refine their ideas, supported by a dedicated video coach.
By the final day, each team was ready to present a complete recommendation, combining analytical depth, strategic thinking, creativity and execution.
This year again, our students in Marketing and Creativity, and Digital Transformation Leadership delivered outstanding recommendations for their L’Oréal sponsor. The brief focused on the British market and required that they deep dive into consumer insights, cultural intricacies and omnichannel retail dynamics in order to come up with highly differentiating 360 plans for their brand. I am proud of the work that was accomplished and, once again, thank our amazing partners at L’Oréal for trusting us with this project. What our students experienced over the course of five days leaves them with invaluable learnings and a determination to excel regardless of their next career steps.
Prof. Marie TaillardL'Oréal Professor of Creativity Marketing at ESCP Business School
Learning by Doing, at Industry Level
What makes Big Picture unique is its emphasis on real-world expectations. Students are not only assessed on their ideas, but also on their ability to think strategically, understand consumers and deliver impactful storytelling.
Throughout the week, one principle remained central: consumer centric thinking. Teams were encouraged to go beyond assumptions, grounding their ideas in insights and demonstrating a clear understanding of how brands connect with people in everyday life.
The experience also highlighted the importance of collaboration. With input from professors, alumni and L’Oréal teams, students benefited from multiple perspectives, reflecting the cross-functional nature of modern marketing.
"Today, modern marketing needs to start from knowing exactly who your consumers are, how they live, what they engage with and how they shop. This is the starting point to craft the perfectly tailored marketing campaign and maximize awareness, consideration and conversion on the targets. Students really worked on this methodology to present very interesting ideas to reach UK consumers." Isaure Lablancherie, Brand Business Director Europe for Ralph Lauren fragrances
A Final Pitch Before Industry Experts
The programme culminated in a final presentation session, where each team pitched its recommendations to a jury of L’Oréal professionals and ESCP faculty. In just a few minutes, students had to convince the jury of the relevance, creativity and feasibility of their ideas.
After careful deliberation, three teams were recognised for the quality of their work, with one team standing out for its strong storytelling, clear consumer understanding and fully integrated approach.
L’Oréal Big Picture 2026: The Winning Teams
Congratulations to this year's winning teams:
- 1st Place Team 7: Jenny Tran (MMK), Veronika Polishchuk (MMK), Carla Galvan Gonzalez (MMK), Jasmeen Shaqueita (MMK), Ishika Sharma (MMK)
- 2nd Place - Team 4: Sanjeetha S (MDT), Romain Lausdat (MMK), Laure Triebsch (MMK), Tara Kilicli (MMK), Dimitra Valtetsioti (MMK)
- 3rd Place - Team 6: Tooba Qadir (MMK), Eva Tran (MMK), Janica Cartsburg (MMK), Anna (MMK), Ruixuan Guo (MMK)
“Winning the Big Picture project was an incredible milestone, but the true highlight was our journey as a team. We won because we embraced our differences; every time we bounced an idea off one another, it grew into something more creative than we could have imagined alone. Where one person faced a challenge, another stepped in with a solution, proving that our collective strength was our greatest asset. Above all, we had immense fun and walked away with genuine friendships, which made the entire experience truly worth while preparing Future Marketing Leaders.” Team 7
Beyond the competition, Big Picture is designed to prepare students for their future careers. By working on a real brand challenge, managing time pressure and presenting to industry professionals, participants gain a first-hand understanding of what it takes to succeed in marketing today.
As one of ESCP’s flagship experiential learning initiatives, the programme continues to strengthen the long-standing relationship between the School and L’Oréal, while offering students a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between theory and practice.