From underground to Parisian playground

MANILA, Philippines - Call it inspiration, or liquid courage — but after months of excruciating work, letting loose on the dance floor was bravery in its finest form.

An urban underground scene awaited guests last April 15 in Club Bureau for the awarding party and culmination of the 2010 L’Oréal Brandstorm season. Competing participants along with student leaders from the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University were treated to a night of spunk and audacity courtesy of Diesel — flaunting the philosophy of “being stupid,” a campaign that encourages consumers to take risks and move beyond the smart and sensible track in life.

Now in its second season in the Philippines, L’Oréal Brandstorm is the biggest marketing competition that allows students in teams of three and in their final two years of undergraduate or masteral study to go for the kill and act as marketing brand managers to create a new product, wonder the L’Oréal global brand umbrella. This year, 146 teams from the three participating universities registered online to face the task of creating men’s product range for Diesel, one of L’Oréal’s fragrance brands.

Emerging from the 17 teams that battled it out in the university finals were the six national finalists: Teams Yup and Gun from UP, Teams Hybrid and Ignacio from AdMU, and Teams Green DOT and Pow from DLSU, all dishing out compelling product lines, enough to make any man rush to the closest Diesel outlet. The teams spent three months working with this year’s partner agency, McCann Worldgroup, to translate their ideas into actual product design and layout prints. They were then whisked off to an intensive two-day workshop at the L’Oréal Philippines headquarters, where top marketing managers shared their expertise on the beauty industry, the cosmetics brand and the beauty market.

The night’s festivities were heightened by rapid-fire marketing pitches served by the finalists, reaching a climax when Team Gun — composed of seniors Carlo Bautista, Emil Erasmo, Naesa Orlina and their faculty mentor, Raymund Acedera bagged the National Championship trophy along with an all-expenses-paid boarding pass to one of the world’s most coveted destinations: Paris, France. By mid-June, they will represent the Philippines and compete with 40 other countries in the International Finals for a chance to win a 10,000-euro trip to anywhere in the world for the most creative and pioneering team.

“[Brandstorm] seemed like the best place to prove ourselves,” says Emil, who, along with his teammates, produced a skincare line called Rugged Edge, which aims to maintain a man’s bravado while keeping him polished and refined. Inspired by male celebrities who can pull off a look of rugged sophistication, they created a line that caters to men by accentuating their features. Interestingly enough, the idea a beard-growing gel was spawned by the inability of Team Gun’s male members to grow facial turf.

“The strangest ideas could be the best ones. It’s all about living and breathing the brand,” Naesa says. And, true enough, pushing the marketing envelope has earned them sweet victory.

Everyone knows that speakers dishing out hypnotic beats, trippy shafts of pulsating lights, and the beckoning of an open bar make the perfect equation of a kick-ass party. But when induced with disco balls, glowsticks and a new league of enterprising, out-of-the-box thinkers, chances are everyone’s about to get more than what they bargained for. And who knows? Maybe even a rendezvous at the Eiffel Tower.