BEVERLY — Picture postcards of diamond-encrusted snowflakes, a black present wrapped in a red bow and an up-close image of an eye adorned with sparkling makeup.
Does it convey "A Flurry of Winter Beauty?" The judges certainly thought so.
Beverly High School juniors Allison Detorre and Meg Finn placed in the top 20 out of more than 200 students from the United States and Canada for their marketing project that promoted the winter collection for Sephora, the international beauty store.
They received a blue medallion for being national finalists, as well as a yellow medallion for coming in first in their oral presentation.
Sophomore Allison Murray also received an achievement award for placing within the top 30 percent of students in the marketing management category.
The competition was sponsored by DECA, the Distributive Education Clubs of America, a worldwide association of students studying marketing, business, finance, hospitality and sales.
Last week, Detorre and Finn were in Atlanta for their first foray into the business world.
"It gives you a lot of public speaking skills and prepares you to do that kind of stuff in real life," Finn said. "I felt like a real marketing executive."
They stood in front of a judge and explained their strategy to use the postcards to inform Sephora customers of upcoming sales and events, to team up with the Bravo reality TV show "Make Me a Supermodel" to sponsor a fashion show where the models would be wearing Sephora's product line, and to give away samples with purchases.
To make it to the national competition, they also placed within the top three in the district competition in January and the state competition in March.
"Every judge told us they didn't have any questions for us," Finn said.
That's a good sign. It meant they covered every angle of their plan and left no doubt as to what they were proposing, said marketing teacher Kristen Marescalchi, who served as their DECA adviser.
"What they accomplished is truly outstanding and they should be very proud of themselves," she said. "I'm certainly proud of them, and I know the BHS community is, too."
