Topo Cossette 2009: HEC Montréal Comes Out on Top

April 3, 2009

The HEC Montréal team of Loïc Le Joliff and Valentin Millet, final-year BBA students, won the Topo Cossette 2009 competition, defeating teams from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, the UQAM École des sciences de la gestion, McGill University and the Université de Sherbrooke. This victory not only adds an achievement to their résumés but also earns Loïc and Valentin a paid eight-week internship with Cossette.

This year’s teams had to present a strategy and design a communications tool to promote the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Although participants were allowed to consult Cossette professionals, they had only four days to put their presentations together.

As Jury Chair Benoit Bessette, Vice-President and CEO of IDENTICA, a Cossette division, emphasized, “Every year, the jury members are pleasantly surprised at the quality of students’ presentations. This year’s winners had strong strategies, well adapted to the economic context.”

For Valentin, the most memorable part of the competition was the presentation to the seven-member jury. “At that point we really didn’t feel like a couple of students, but like two professionals from an agency trying to sell their concept,” he said. “We worked extremely hard, and the time just flew by over the four days. What a great learning experience!”

Note that HEC Montréal students also won this prestigious competition in 2006 and 2007.