In April 2021, 16 of Power2’s Young Leaders joined a team of volunteers from tech company AMD for an interactive advertising and marketing workshop.  

The morning session kicked off with over 20 AMD volunteers speed networking with Young Leaders, speaking about their roles, responsibilities, and individual journeys to get to where they are in their careers. The young people had lots of questions about jobs in the tech industry and what is needed to make a big international company tick. 

Darren Grasby, Chief Sales Officer, and other executive volunteers gave a short presentation on what AMD does, the kind of products they design, and types of advertising from social media to digital ‘out of home’ marketing. This kickstarted a lively discussion on adverts our Young Leaders encounter every day, how they make them feel and the tech products they use and why.  

After lunch, teams of Young Leaders and UK AMDers were tasked with pitching an AMD advertising campaign targeting 13-19 year olds to a panel of senior AMD and Power2 representatives. In 45 minutes they identified their audience and preferred channel, and sketched out a marketing proposal from storyboarding to budget.  

The judges were blown away by their ideas, creativity and passion, and were motivated by unique access to future customers’ feedback on AMD branding and products. The panel voted on the best pitch and awarded prizes donated by AMD.  

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Benefits for Young People

This kind of activity gives young people unique insight into and prepares them for the world of work.

Work-based experiences are increasingly hard to come by, especially for young people referred to Power2. This was made worse by the pandemic, with placements cancelled and part-time jobs inaccessible to them. 

Our Young Leaders had an extremely positive experience. AMD volunteers were considerate and interacted with them in a way which made them feel heard and respected, which the young people really appreciated.

A small but important learning was exposure to in-work ‘down-time’ – for instance, when waiting for everyone to log on to the call. Young people heard the small talk that keeps a team connected, especially when working remotely, and understood the benefits of taking part in informal team discussion. It also helped some feel more confident talking to people they hadn’t met before.

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Benefits for AMD 

Power2 Trustee and AMD Head of Brand Strategy, Georgia Hart, told us that a driving factor for AMD selecting Power2 as the Day of Service partner in the UK was the way we pivoted quickly during the COVID-19 crisis, moved the Young Leaders programme online and created and scaled a new pandemic response programme, Power2 Rediscover.  

We used an online format for the 2021 AMD Day of Service too and it was in fact extremely beneficial. It meant AMD volunteers had a more immediate connection to our Young Leaders from London and the North West and to Power2 staff, creating a larger and broader group than might have happened in a face-to-face workshop.

During preparation for the day, it was clear that AMD is committed to fostering a culture of Global Inclusion (D&I) so that every voice is valued, regardless of the individual’s background. Power2’s Young Leaders are incredibly diverse – in terms of gender, race, religion, location, lived experiences and ways of thinking – and the Day of Service provided real insight into the next generation of customers and employees, removed pre-conceptions and delivered a powerful reminder of what D&I actually looks like in the UK and how it benefits a business. 

“Power2 offers a meaningful engagement for the 2021 AMD UK Day of Service in terms of meeting our multi-voice cultural values.

“The day shed light on a new industry and a new sector for young people of diverse backgrounds while giving AMD UK employees insight into the importance of being open-minded and inclusive when hiring, a key tenet of AMD as an employer brand.

“There were also a few “A-HA!” moments, and gold dust ideas from the Young Leaders which have been fed back to the marketing team.”

– Georgia Hart, AMD Head of Brand Strategy