The students in the Masters in Management programme experienced a truly immersive moment in the world of L’Oréal over the last three months of 2019.

As part of the “Communication Fundamentals” course, second-year MiM students perform a challenge each year in partnership with a company.
“It is very important to have the students work on a real, current problem facing a company. The students’ interest and commitment are actually higher then when they are working a fictitious case scenario,” Aude Girard, NEOMA Marketing and Communication professor, explained.

This year the students worked on two problems in the professional products division of the L’Oréal Group and the Provalliance Group: "The communication on a new Franck Provost hair salon concept" and "How to reintroduce value and prestige to the world of hairstyling in a context where France experiences a loss of 10,000 stylists per year".

This challenge lasted two and a half months, progressing on a well structured pace. The L’Oréal employees first came to the school to introduce the company and the Provalliance group and then to brief the students on the problems. Then, from one week to the other, the students, who were coached by their professor, worked in groups of five or six on different stages of the communication plan’s implementation.

The challenge ended with the final step where the groups defended their solutions. This took place at the start of December and allowed the students to practice public speaking through a 30-minute presentation to a jury made up of several directors from the two partner groups.
It was a win-win project for everyone involved: the company professionals left with concrete ideas that they could implement, and the students enjoyed a special meeting with company employees, who even discussed internship offers and apprenticeship contracts!

>Learn more about the Masters in Management programme at NEOMA Business School