EDHEC MSc Marketing students win the 2021 L’Oréal Sustainability Challenge

A team of five dynamic women, EDHEC International BBA graduates and current MSc Marketing Management students - Charlotte Blanchard, Nanthida Kaewradee, Syrane Kazandjian, Clara Dubreucq and Clara Diss - are the proud winners of L’Oréal’s fifth Sustainability Challenge!

This year, competition participants undertook the challenge of creating an innovation to make L’Oréal’s packaging more sustainable, more environmentally friendly, and more ecological. After four months of intense research into L’Oréal Paris Revitalift skincare category, our five students came up with an entire new circular business solution based on re-useable, re-fillable, premium glass bottles.

A winning format

When asked about the main factors that led to their success despite intense competition, Charlotte Blanchard says: “Our project was very concrete, feasible and scalable and we covered all aspects - from product innovation, to distribution, communication and financing.” Team work, positive spirit and making the most of their complementary skills also contributed to their success. For Nanthida Kaewradee, the significant effort they put into their five slides during their 10-minute pitch in front of the jury had a strong impact too. “A qualitative presentation is key in marketing”, she says. “The format of our presentation, with prototypes and animation, helped the jury to fully project the reality of our solution.” For Syrane Kazandjian, this challenge gave them the chance to illustrate their five years of training at EDHEC. “As MSc Marketing Management students, we have benefited from five highly rigorous training courses, gained intuition and the ability to get straight to the point.”

At EDHEC, sustainability is much more than a word…

Sustainability is an extremely important focus area for the business school and a key pillar of its strategic business transformation plan for future generations. Through its programmes, EDHEC aims to educate students to actively engage in major global transformation initiatives and demonstrate their concrete use to society. “Through its programmes, diverse initiatives such as distributing water bottles and the campus organization, EDHEC has managed to transmit the importance of sustainability to us” says Clara Dubreucq. EDHEC Business School is even more engaged through the years, “We know that there is always a way to inject environmental issues into businesses in order to serve future generations” agreed Clara Diss.

For the winning team, this project has fuelled their aim to make an impact, demonstrate how they can be useful to society, and drive company causes, such as L’Oréal’s, with their ideas and skills. This project combined with its previous experiences into the beauty sector offered Charlotte Blanchard the chance to join L’Oréal Paris DMI for a 6-month internship starting this summer. Congratulations to Charlotte and the team!