IT took a moment or two to sink in, but once the realisation that he and his teammates would be going to Paris on an all-expenses-paid trip hit him, Lee Lin Jian started jumping for joy.

“He even pinched me to see whether or not it was real,” exclaimed teammate Nor Faizah Zainal Arifin, rubbing the sore spot on her arm ruefully.

The two Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia students together with their mate Anthony Yan Kang Loy, make up team Les Anges – winner of this year’s L’Oréal Brandstorm national finals, held in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Aside from winning a RM5,000 travel voucher, RM500 worth of Vichy products each and the challenge trophy, plaques and certificates, the team will also be representing Malaysia at the international finals of the competition in Paris in June.

Said Lin Jian: “It’s very surreal, it’s all a mixture of feelings and a rush of adrenaline.”

Nor Faizah added: “We need time to adjust.”

With all of them about to sit for their exams within the next few days, winning the top prize was certainly worth all the extra effort and stress.

Their win was even more surprising as none of them are marketing or advertising students. In fact, Nor Faizah is a Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL) student, while Lin Jian and Anthony are doing Chemistry and Biology, respectively.

The extra edge

Tasked with creating a new sun care product range and educational communications strategy for Vichy Capital Soleil, it was the team’s logical marketing strategies, consumer insight and confidence that gave them the edge over the other four finalists.

Chief judge and 8TV chief executive officer Ahmad Izham Omar commented directly after their presentation: “It is not easy to present a lot of information in a comprehensive way that is easily understandable to the layman. The logical flow (of the presentation) was very good.”

Focusing on the concept of “Convenient sun care protection that feels like a second skin”, the team emphasised creating products that are non-greasy, convenient and protect the skin.

Said Nor Faizah: “There were only two or three products we could do, so we played around with the packaging and structure of the products.”

The team ended up with “the cube” – a box containing sunscreen cream in tablet form that melts upon body contact, “the slide” – a two-in-one container that holds both sunscreen and after-sun protection, and “the ice-stick”, which contains after-sun care.

Not forgetting the educational strategy, the team proposed a mobile 3x3m perspex cube – mirroring its star product “the cube” – that would be placed in strategic locations to raise awareness of skin sun care and offer free consultations to the public.

Coming in a close second was team OnePoint3 from IACT (Institute Advertising Communications Training).

With the slogan “Keep your cool”, team members Stephanie Loh Ai Wen, Louisa Tang Chee Siew and Winnie Tuang Ket Ying certainly kept their cool to give an energetic presentation.

Focusing on the affluent, young female market, the team showcased its Glace (“ice” in French) product range, which features sunblock in the form of beads that are dispensed by a slim mechanical container.

Their marketing strategy not only included advertising on social networking sites like Facebook, Friendster and MySpace, but also emphasised training and providing incentives for sales promoters.

Their presentation was a result of months’ of hard work. Said Winnie: “I haven’t had dinner with my family for about two weeks.”
Louisa shared: “At the beginning, our ideas were all over the place. We had to slowly narrow them down to the final products and campaign.”

Meanwhile, Switch from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT), was pleasantly surprised at its third position.

“I didn’t have any expectations,” said Graphic Design student Charles Chaw Chee Wah. “It was quite cool; I wasn’t disappointed or overly-excited.”

His teammate, Wilson Santoso, agreed: “I just feel tired and relieved that it’s all over.”

Unlike the other teams which wore colour-coordinated outfits, Charles, Wilson and teammate Lee Sze Mun wore their own individual outfits to emphasise the tone of their campaign, which was “active, expressive and fearless”.

Their product range comprised transparent sunscreen roll-on, sunscreen wipes and also sunblock in capsule form. Their marketing strategy included organising the biggest outdoor event of the year,themed “Sun Lovers Unite!” and various fun art, dance and design competitions.

For their efforts, OnePoint3 won a RM3,000 travel voucher and a RM400 Vichy product hamper each, while Switch received a RM2,000 travel voucher and RM300 worth of Vichy products each.

The two other finalists, Indigo Child from IACT and Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Mega Idea, received consolation prizes of RM250 worth of Vichy products per member and certificates.

Tough decision

Said judge and Vichy brand manager Wong Yat Choong: “It was definitely a tough job choosing the winners. All five of them were excellent.

“They really got the consumer insights, and came up with very strong marketing programmes that will strengthen the brand and product. They also had strong educational programmes.”

Wong was also pleased that all the teams had diverse presentation styles and products.

He and Izham were joined on the judging panel by L’Oréal Malaysia and Singapore managing director Jean-Francois Couve, advertising agency Euro RSCG Kuala Lumpur managing director Choy Lee Kien and Dermatological Society of Malaysia president Dr Allan Yee Kim Chye.

Izham, who was also a judge for the 2005 edition of the competition, said: “The quality has improved tremendously, and there are a lot more different institutions participating now.

“It was a very tough decision because everyone was very, very good.”

He added that the judges had to debate for quite a while before deciding between the top two teams. “I think we chose the right team which will make Malaysia proud.”