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n a few more years, we will probably find Desita Herdini Arumsari, Fabila Mahadira and Teuku Faris Riandi as brand managers for multinational companies. After pitching their ideas to L’Oréal Indonesia’s commissioners, these fifth semester students at ITB’s School of Business Management were chosen to represent Indonesia in the L’Oréal Brandstorm International Final Championship in Paris from June 15 to 16.

It was the third such competition, this one held at KOI Restaurant in Kemang, Jakarta, on April 13. This year, finalists were challenged to create a business plan to attract men to salons through revolutionary products and services.

The three friends began to work on the project in December of 2010, then were given a workshop by a global marketing communications company and finally marked their success in the national finals with their KOFFIE concept. “The KOFFIE product concept is considered the most comprehensive and expressive strategic marketing concept with the tag-line “Give your hair a coffee break”. The suggested coffee shop concept offers a friendly ambiance for male customers to come to the salon. The team also suggested an additional range of products to complete the products available before,” said president director Jean-Christophe Letellier.

Joining him in the judges row were L’Oréal Indonesia professional product division general manager Michel Toth, human resources director Restu Widiati and McCann Worldgroup managing director Michelle Ong. They judged based on creativity, market analysis, coherence with brand values, communication skills and team dynamics.

With the main aim to give students experience with brand managing an international product and also to bridge students with the company, Letellier also said the event had become an effective recruitment tool. Many finalists have been offered contracts either from L’Oréal Indonesia or L’Oréal International.

Last year’s finalist Angga, for example, was offered a position at L’Oréal Paris as he and his team were in the top five in the world finals. Because of a family issue at the time, he could not accept. However, he stays in touch with his contacts there and will probably accept an offer if a second chance arrives.

Angga also said that the road to win a trip prize worth ¤ 10,000 (US$14,800) in the international championship will not be easy, although Indonesia has been recognized for good business presentations. He and Letellier said that Desita and her friends need to be bold and daring as innovation is the most weighted element in the world finals.

In response, Faris said, “I am confident with the concept of KOFFIE because of the uniqueness and masculinity for men, but I don’t think our marketing strategy is strong enough. So, we need to discuss and have a better “brandstorm” to make it better for the international final. We realize that in Paris, we will face brilliant ideas from other countries.”

Desita added, “Being the national winner did not complete our satisfaction though, we aim higher. We really want to be the world champion. We believe if we really get our head on this and work hard, hopefully we can bring up Indonesia’s name in international eyes.”

With so much being sacrificed, including being kicked out of class by a lecturer for taking a phone call from L’Oréal during class, these youngsters aim to bring their creativity to Paris and hopefully to a future career as marketers.

Courtesy Ganesha Team ITB
One of the innovations is a hair cream tube combined with a brush.