Success has never smelt sweeter for a trio of NTU students named the Singapore champs of L'Oréal Brandstorm 2009. Their next stop: Paris.

Britney Cheong, Ng Yi Han and Jessica Ong, all 22, are carrying on a fine tradition at Singapore's top business school - a tradition of besting the rest.

The trio from the Nanyang Business School (NBS) defeated seven other tertiary teams to clinch the title of L'Oréal Brandstorm National Champion on 20 May, less than two months after another stellar NBS team trounced top international teams to win the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Global Investment Research Challenge (GIRC) in London.

In the case of Britney, Yi Han and Jessica, also known as Team Magnifique, it was an ingenious proposal for a two-in-one perfume combining a liquid and solid scent, targeted at the teen and young adult market, that proved to be the clincher. "A lady has the option of selecting from either form of the perfume, to suit her mood and preference," says Britney of their brainchild. As part of their marketing plan for the perfume, the trio came up with the tagline, "Double the choice, twice the confidence".

Having won the national leg of L'Oréal Brandstorm 2009, Team Magnifique will now represent Singapore in Paris, where they will compete against 40 other top teams at the international finals of the competition on 29 and 30 June. And here's what they stand to win as the global champion - an all-expenses-paid trip to a destination of their choice worth S$20,000.

So are the students all set for Paris?

"We are excited and truly happy to have won a chance in the international finals," says Britney. "We look forward to the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with the other teams as well as top professionals in world-leading companies such as L'Oréal and McCann Worldgroup."

"Globally viable concept"
According to Mr Nicolas Pauthier, Human Resource Director of L'Oréal Singapore & ASEAN, the girls "outshone their competitors as they had an in-depth understanding of Maybelline New York's brand values and presented a globally viable concept". Top L'Oréal executives on the jury panel were also impressed by the students' confident presentation and their strong team spirit. No wonder they were the judges' choice, ahead of teams from institutions like the National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University.

It is noteworthy that the first runner-up spot also went to a team of NTU students - Aarti Assodani, Lee Shin and Praba Saundarajoo from the School of Biological Sciences, who call themselves Team Exuparantia.

Taking the form of a global marketing competition, L'Oréal Brandstorm challenges tertiary students to creatively develop and launch new product lines. This year, the Singapore teams had to come up with a product line for Maybelline New York, a cosmetics brand under the L'Oréal stable. The competition is also a recruitment platform for L'Oréal.

© Corporate Communications Office