Newcastle University

A team of third year students from the Business School, are preparing to represent the UK at the finals of cosmetics giant L’Oreal’s international brand manager competition in Paris next month.  

The team had already beaten off stiff competition to secure one of just 11 places in the UK final before going on to be crowned UK winners after a gruelling day of presentations at L’Oreal’s London HQ in Hammersmith. 

The two day final at L’Oreal’s Paris head offices will be held on 16-17 June 2010 and will see ‘Team Devolution’ –students Kyle Clarke, Toby Winch and Jono Rayner – pitch their idea against teams from 43 other countries.  Competitors are attending from as far afield as Mexico, USA, Japan and Russia as well as a host of finalists from across Europe. 

Team Devolution’s Kyle Clarke said:  “Taking part in the L’Oreal Brandstorm competition has been fantastic – it has given us invaluable experience of developing a new product and marketing strategy.  Working with the team at L’Oreal during the UK Final has really helped us pinpoint our campaign and create the idea and approach we are going to present in Paris.   

“Representing the UK is a daunting prospect but exciting too – we have the backing of a lot of people who want the UK to win and we can’t wait to go to Paris and to pitch our ideas to the team there.” 

Marketing and Management Programme Director, Stuart Challinor added: “We are incredibly proud of what our students have achieved at the L’Oreal competition – to make it to the UK Final against over 90 entries in the UK alone is an achievement of its own, so to reach the International Final is a tremendous coup.  The competition is a great opportunity for students to apply innovation, entrepreneurial skills and creativity in a real-life scenario.” 

Nick Keeley, Director, Newcastle University Careers Service commented:

“The Careers Service plays a key role in encouraging students to take their ideas from the class room and apply them in the real world. We were delighted to support Team Devolution with one-to-one advice in the run up to the team’s entry to Brandstorm and we are really thrilled with their success.”  

Ian Clarke, Director of Newcastle University Business School said:

“We are delighted with Team Devolution’s success so far and wish them well for the International Final. Our graduates perform exceptionally well in the job market as they are grounded in the reality of business and are entrepreneurial. The team have very bright futures ahead of them”.