Three student teams from the American University in Dubai (AUD) ranked among the Top 10 teams in the region in L’Oréal Brandstorm Competition 2026, making AUD the only university to have three teams advance to this stage of the prestigious international innovation challenge.

This year’s competition challenged students to reimagine the future of luxury fragrances by developing innovative, technology-driven, and consumer-centric perfume experiences for one of L’Oréal’s global brands. Students were encouraged to explore themes of personalization, inclusivity, sustainability, and emotional connection in the evolving fragrance industry.

Two of the qualifying teams were cross-disciplinary collaborations between Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications and Engineering students. These teams were mentored by Dr. Pakinam Nazmy, Assistant Professor of Marketing, with support from Dr. Vinod Pangracious, Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering. The third qualifying team consisted of senior marketing students who worked closely with Dr. Farah Arkadan, Chair of the Department of Management and Marketing, Associate Professor of Marketing, and Accreditation Lead.

Team “YSL Access,” consisting of students Nur Schamamit, Mohammad Hossein, and Nay Chible, developed a creative concept that reimagined perfume packaging and design to create a more inclusive and user-friendly experience for individuals with disabilities, particularly those with limited hand dexterity. The team proposed launching an accessible iteration of YSL fragrances that would allow users to enjoy luxury perfumes with greater ease and independence while reinforcing the brand’s core values of freedom, craftsmanship, and self-expression.

Team “Scentrix,” made up of Chantal Bachour, Noor Albastaki, and Majid Taha, developed the futuristic concept, “Scentrix YSL Mémoire.” Their idea leveraged AI technology to transform human emotions into personalized fragrances by analyzing emotional states such as happiness or excitement and converting them into unique scent profiles. The team highlighted how emotions trigger natural chemical reactions in the body that influence personal scent, allowing the system to create fragrances that are deeply personal and impossible to replicate. Their concept aimed to introduce a new era of luxury perfumes by turning fragrance into an emotional and identity-driven experience rather than a standardized product.

Team “ABA Studio,” comprised of Abdulmajeed AlSohaibi, Bachar Sitory and Abdulla Kazim, presented the innovative idea, “Your Scent. Your Memory.” Their concept is a cutting-edge fragrance experience designed to help consumers create personalized and exclusive scents that reflect their identity and emotions. Through an AI-guided process, users can select custom fragrance notes, test their blend, personalize their bottle with a meaningful label, and save their unique scent for future refills, transforming perfume into a lasting personal memory.

Dr. Pakinam Nazmy said:
“This year’s Brandstorm challenge on shaping the future of luxury fragrance pushed students to think beyond the traditional perfume experience and explore creativity, personalization, and innovation in completely new ways. I was truly impressed by the passion and originality they brought to their ideas.”

Dr. Farah Arkadan added:
“The annual L’Oréal Brandstorm competition offers students a valuable opportunity to work on a real industry brief and present their ideas to an impressive panel of judges. It allows them to unleash their creativity while exercising strategic thinking to develop ideas and marketing strategies that are innovative as well as feasible, scalable, sustainable, and inclusive.”

The achievement highlights AUD students’ ability to combine creativity, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration to address real-world industry challenges on a regional and international stage.