Disciplines: DESIGN / LOBBY & PR via strategy, SoMe & more

1. Tension / Insight

Romanian women carry a double story: admired for their looks, underestimated for their talent, brains and contribution.

At the same time, many women under 35 grow up in a culture of anxiety, social comparison, economic pressure and “easy way out” options (like videochat or under-potential jobs). Role models who mix brains, beauty, courage and global performance are there, sometimes exceptional, performing globally, however but too quiet, too scarce, too disparate, with the social media noise covering their acheivements.

Young Lady is The Alternative School’s x LoveAndLobby.com answer:

A creative platform (digital-print-events) that reframes Romanian beauty as the visible expression of a powerful inner world – talent, skills, character, values.

Key words: beauty, identity, career choice, stereotypes, social pressure, flipping the script, private diplomacy.

2. Young Lady’s mission / purpose:

Reposition beauty – in general, and Romanian beauty in particular – as the expression of talent & a rich inner world. #BrainsAndBeauty

Challenge clichés about Romanian women and Romania, and position “Romanian beauty = Romanian talent” on the global stage. #Brains&Beauty

3.Who are we talking to?

• Primary audience: Young women in Romania, up to 35, from creative fields, business, tech, STEM, fashion, PR, marketing, art, especially those dealing with insecurity, lack of direction or pressure to choose “easier but emptier” paths.

• Secondary audience: Romanian and international creative & business communities, Media & influencers, Foreign audiences who still see Romanian women mainly through beauty clichés, BRANDS that can resonate with the goal of the program, signing “The Pledge for Beauty”, where Beauty is repositioned as expression and talent as subject.

• Tertiary audience: Brands and decision makers who have the power to fund, host, amplify and normalize this new definition of beauty.

4. WHAT’S YOUR TASK:

1. Create the cover of the Young Lady Magazine. It should mirror or complement the LadiesFirst Cover, for very often they will be distributed together.

2. Pick one or several brands that could make sense to team up with Young Lady and create a campaign amplifying the Young Lady mission, while bringing the partner brand(s) consistent benefits.

3. Create 2 other visual statements of your choice, beyond the cover of the magazine, to document your campaign. (it can be an instagram layout for the carousel, to communicate the selected talent backstage story of transformation, it can be video, poster, other social media content to be used at any moment in the Young Ladies journey, from the digital stage, to the print - events - potential exhibitions with the portraits of the selected talent). Keep in mind the media budget is very limited, so you need to pick those media that are serving the cause, while being realistic.

Note: While proposing visual content, take into consideration TheAlternativeSchool & LadiesFirst aestetics: https://www.instagram.com/theschoolforcreativethinking/ https://thealternativeschool.com/cia/ladies-first)

5. Deliverables on a gdrive link:

1. Magazine cover for the LadiesFirst / Young Lady magazine. Format: PDF The size: 286.103 x 295.981 mm or 1081 x 1119 pixels)

2. Two additional key visuals. Static or motion. Formats: JPG or MP4

3. A3 campaign board

Presenting the insight, the idea and strategy, based on the brand(s) selected to team up with the platform (explaining how the Young Lady platform and your chosen brand(s) work together to transform the purpose of the platform into a reality, and the changes in culture or behavior when your campaign succeeds), It must include the three visuals above (cover + 2 key visuals) and feature an impactful campaign title.

4. Note: The board must be signed with the team name only (not the individual participants’ names).

6.Find here additional visual references from LadiesFirst to help you frame YoungLady

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yNs8fMgWN0Y5EMYvoKblovRMdouW-rJt?usp=sharing

7.Deadline:

Send your solutions on a google drive, under YOUR_TEAMS_NAME link until 10.12.2025, 1pm at andra@thealternativeschool.com Make sure the link is public before sending the email.

More about Young Lady

1.What is Young Lady?

a) A hybrid platform:

• Digital “reality show” of talent

• Instagram + thealternativeschool.com x Love&Lobby

• Visual takeovers, interviews, backstage stories about confidence, fears overcome, and personal visions of beauty, backstage stories from the shoots

• Featuring exceptional talents under 35 from the creative economies, STEM & co.

  
  

• Each talent receives:

  • Personal branding support (as a tool to express the gorgeousness of the inner world, not as an instrument to cover up insecurities)

  • A #Makeover experience (hair, make-up, styling, professional photoshoot)

  • A chance to show how their inner world translates into outer expressivity

• Premium English-language print & digital magazine – Young Lady

  
  

• 45 profiles of remarkable Romanian talents, already awarded in international contexts (women + men and non-binary personalities as recommenders & designers)

• Same graphic DNA & recommendation mechanic as LadiesFirst (an accomplished male or female professional, is recommending a young female talent, who’s recommending a young designer, regardless the gender)

• The best pictures of the shoot are selected for the print, while the second best, with backstage quality will go on social media, to keep the flame alive

• Distributed at international festivals & events related to creativity, art, tourism, that could serve as cultural diplomacy platforms, local School's events (#TheFutureOf series / BrandsTalk - Identity & culture) and premium locations in Romania (hotels, cafés, restaurants where foreigners can be easily reached out and exposed to contemporary romanian talent in all shapes and sizes)

• Purpose: challenge clichés about Romanian women and Romania, and position “Romanian beauty = Romanian talent” on the global stage. #Brains&Beauty

b) Backed up by edicated events

On Beauty / On Romanian Talent / #TheFutureOfCreativity

c) A PR & Lobby platform

• Sparks media and professional conversations about: contemporary Romanian talent / cosmopolitan education / beauty as expressivity of personality and talent / performance against all odds. Acts as a tool for the Romanian creative industries “at export”.

• The Core Idea behind Young Lady / Ladies First

Beauty = the visible expression of a rich inner world.

The hero of the story: the head –what’s inside (talent, skills, ideas, values) what’s outside (hair, style, face) = one coherent expression of identity.

“Romanian beauty” is not about fitting a stereotype. It is about:

• performance against the odds,

• diversity of backgrounds (economic, geographic, cultural, LGBTQ )

• women who use their heads to build meaningful lives and careers.

  
  

3. Role of the Partner Brand(s)

In 2025, brands can be more than advertisers.

Within Young Lady, the partner brand becomes:

• Coach & amplifier of better aspirations

• Stage where real stories of Romanian talent are seen

• Ally that transforms its platforms (products, spaces, channels, tech) into tools for confidence, visibility and opportunity.

• Brand partnership

• Choose at least one real brand to partner with Young Lady:

• A beauty / hair brand (haircare, styling, skincare, make-up, salon), A tech brand

• (telco, device, app/platform, AI, wearables, fintech) You may also imagine a collaboration between a beauty brand and a tech brand if it serves your idea.

• Show clearly:

• Why this brand is a credible ally for the cause

• What concrete assets it puts on the table (products, technology, spaces, communities, media, expertise).

• What your campaign must do

Your campaign should:

Flip the cliché: Challenge the old narrative “pretty face, not much else”

Replace it with a new mental model: “Brains ^ Beauty” / “Beauty that thinks & acts”.

On possible direction is to Make the head the hero: Use head / hair / face / style as symbols of inner richness and expression, not as objects to be judged. Show how style, hair and make-up become a translation of personality, not the starting point.

• Keywords: #HairStory, #HerStory

• Live as a real ecosystem, not just a slogan

6.Show how your idea plays out across:

• Digital & social content (including Instagram takeovers, stories, AR filters, challenges, UGC)

• On-ground or hybrid experiences (events, makeovers, talks, mentorship, workshops)

• PR & media (how does it generate conversation locally and internationally?)

• The Young Lady magazine and its presence at global festivals.

  
  

Inspire better choices

Offer young women desirable, realistic alternatives to “easy-way-out” narratives: role models, paths, communities, support.

Avoid shaming; focus on showing what’s possible when talent meets opportunity.

Impact & Future Life

7. Tone & Guardrails

• Empowering, bold, emotionally intelligent

• Respectful of all life choices – but clearly in love with talent, courage, and inner richness

• No victimization, no “fixing women”. We celebrate and amplify what’s already powerful in them.

• Avoid superficial “beauty empowerment” clichés. Go deeper, be specific, be human.

  
  

The campaign should help real brand(s) stand next to Young Lady and loudly prove that the most powerful form of beauty Romanian women can flaunt is the one born from their minds, hearts and talent – with hair, make-up and style as the visible echo of that inner world.