MSc Marketing & Creativity students reach L'Oréal Brandstorm UK & Ireland Finals

ESCP London Campus is proud to share that two teams from ESCP's MSc Marketing & Creativity programme have reached the UK & Ireland Finals of L'Oréal Brandstorm 2026, one of the company's flagship innovation competitions. This global competition invites students and young professionals under 30 to develop solutions to the biggest challenges facing the beauty industry, often with a focus on technology and sustainability.

What was the L'Oréal Brandstorm 2026 challenge about?

This year's edition challenged participants to imagine the future of luxury fragrance. Under the theme Crafting the Future of Luxury Fragrance, students were invited to develop concepts that responded to changing consumer expectations and explored new possibilities for fragrance experiences through personalisation, technology and sustainable practices.

More than 6,000 students, forming 270 teams, took part across the UK and Ireland. Following an initial submission consisting of a three-slide presentation and a three-minute video, teams progressed through several rounds of evaluation. Ten finalist teams were invited to present their ideas at L'Oréal UK & Ireland's headquarters in London on 14 May. QUOTE

Two ESCP teams reach the finals

Among those top ten finalists were two teams from ESCP's MSc Marketing & Creativity programme: Studio Vivant, made up of Samantha Ruderman, Kristin Karlsen and Elena Sandell, and Amber Accord, consisting of Lili Simon, Romain Lausdat and Philip Habib.

The finals came shortly after another collaboration between ESCP and L'Oréal. Earlier this year, many MSc Marketing & Creativity students took part in the latest edition of L'Oréal 'Big Picture' project, a one-week industry immersion project that also challenged participants to develop recommendations for a real business brief alongside L'Oréal professionals and ESCP faculty.

Brandstorm was a natural continuation of that experience, giving both teams another chance to work on a live business challenge with a company they admired and to apply the creative and analytical approaches developed during the programme.

Studio Vivant's concept: Lancôme Zones

While both teams represented ESCP in the UK & Ireland Finals, we spoke with Samantha Ruderman from Studio Vivant about the competition experience, the team's concept and what she learned from the challenge.

"Our shared interest in beauty and luxury was what initially motivated us to participate," explains Samantha. "Brandstorm gave us the opportunity to work on a real challenge, present our ideas to industry professionals and test what we had learned beyond the classroom."

Samantha's team developed Lancôme Zones, a concept inspired by the world's five Blue Zones - regions associated with long and healthy lives. The team focused on fragrance longevity, one of the most common frustrations reported by fragrance consumers. Their proposal combined elements of fragrance and skincare, drawing on the unique wellbeing rituals linked to the different Blue Zones.

The concept was designed specifically for Lancôme, a brand that has increasingly focused on longevity through its skincare and beauty innovations. According to Samantha, this made Lancôme a natural fit for exploring how fragrance could evolve in response to changing consumer expectations.

The team presented the concept at L'Oréal UK & Ireland's headquarters in London, where finalists pitched their ideas to senior leaders from across the company's luxury division.

"The judges appreciated that we had focused on a genuine consumer problem," Samantha says. "They felt there was a clear gap in the market and that our concept addressed a real need." Throughout the competition, the team worked with a L'Oréal mentor who helped them refine the concept ahead of the final presentation.

Three questions with Samantha Ruderman

We asked Samantha to reflect on the experience and what she will take away from it.

What was your biggest takeaway from participating in the competition?
"My biggest takeaway was realising just how powerful creativity can be when it is rooted in real consumer insight. The most meaningful innovations are the ones that genuinely improve people's lives and solve real problems. This experience reinforced how much I love the beauty and luxury industry and reminded me exactly why I chose to move across the world from San Diego to London, and soon to Paris, to pursue this career path. Standing in L'Oréal's headquarters, surrounded by so many talented, ambitious, and creative minds, was incredibly inspiring. It was one of those moments where all of the hard work, sacrifices, and uncertainty that come with pursuing your goals suddenly feel worth it. More than anything, it reminded me that some of the best ideas come from having the courage to think differently, challenge assumptions, and take creative risks, even when the outcome is uncertain."

How did your experience in the MSc Marketing & Creativity programme help you tackle the Brandstorm challenge?
"The MSc Marketing & Creativity programme played a huge role in preparing us for Brandstorm. More than anything, it gave us the confidence to challenge conventional thinking and approach problems from entirely new angles. The programme constantly encourages us to be curious, embrace creativity, and look beyond the obvious solution, which ultimately helped us identify a meaningful gap in the market. We had also recently completed projects with L'Oréal, giving us valuable insight into the company, its consumers, and the way it approaches innovation. Looking back, Brandstorm felt like the perfect opportunity to bring together everything we had learned in the classroom and apply it to a real-world challenge that we were genuinely passionate about. The collaborative nature of the programme also prepared us well for Brandstorm, teaching us how to build on each other's ideas, challenge one another constructively, and transform creative thinking into a cohesive business concept."
 

What advice would you give to future ESCP students considering entering the competition?
"Go for it. Brandstorm was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had during my time at ESCP. It pushes you outside of your comfort zone, challenges you to think bigger, and gives you the opportunity to work on a real business problem with one of the world's most influential companies. Do not worry about having the perfect idea from the start. The best concepts come from collaboration, persistence, and being willing to keep refining your thinking. You never know where the experience might take you, but for me, it reinforced exactly why I chose this career path and reminded me that the biggest opportunities often come from simply putting yourself out there."