“For the first time, I could channel my nervous energy into a marketing pitch” – Summer Boot Camp Student
The Givsly and SuitUp Summer Boot Camp series set out earlier this summer to introduce marketing and advertising as a career option for young students living in underserved communities. Advertising agencies and businesses joined this campaign to sponsor students across the US to participate in SuitUp’s fun and interactive shark tank style business competitions. The sponsoring companies included dentsu, AdTheorent, Fox, Index Exchange, Initiative, LiveRamp, MobileFuse, Smartly.io, SOCi, and Vistar Media.
The competitions kicked off mid-July with dentsu and Index Exchange, as students played the role of CEOs working alongside their coaches on creating a racially & socially inclusive marketing campaign to highlight Abercrombie’s Equity Project and to increase awareness of Abercrombie’s brand for teenagers on BIPOC media outlets. Finals judge and dentsu Media – Americas CEO, Doug Rozen, commented “finding new ways to do business while providing impact is how we truly champion meaningful progress. It’s why we value partners like Givsly and SuitUp for their ability to empower and encourage the younger generation. Seeing the students presenting their ideas and hearing their creativity was so inspiring. We look forward to being a part of future bootcamps.”
Seven additional business competitions took place throughout the five weeks that matched company coaches up with students to work on impressive marketing campaigns together:
- Fox – Social media campaign for Nike’s holiday launch of their new gender-neutral activewear for teenagers that encourages holiday sales.
- MobileFuse – Marketing campaign to promote and drive viewership of the 2020 Summer Olympics.
- Vistar Media – Digital-out-of-home marketing campaign for Hershey’s new product, the Reese’s Pretzel Peanut Butter Cups.
- Smartly.io – Digital & social media campaign for Black-owned wellness brands GOLDE or BLK + GRN that raises their visibility to a national audience.
- Initiative and LiveRamp – Musically-driven digital campaign to launch the Amazon Prime release of a musical fairytale remake of Cinderella starring Camilla Cabello, to a BIPOC audience in the US.
- SOCi – Social media marketing campaign for Bath & Body Works’ all gender fragrance line to drive foot traffic to their stores using the online Fragrance Finder.
- AdTheorent – Marketing campaign for a new restaurant brand with a celebrity and target market of their choosing.
By the end of the Givsly and SuitUp Summer Bootcamp, 168 company volunteers worked with 759 students across 5 states on over 1,400 minutes of marketing, entrepreneurship, and business programming. One Summer Boot Camp student shared, “I learned that I really enjoy working on these pitches. I liked that my input could actually affect society and they could make impacts on something big!” Another shared “the room always felt like a safe space where you could share ideas without being judged. I learned to never be afraid to share my ideas and to always shoot higher than before”. While the students certainly felt the impact from meeting and working with their coaches, our volunteers felt it too. One company coach said, “the kids did a phenomenal job! Very creative ideas, super impressed! I wish I would’ve done a program like this growing up!” and a judge from LiveRamp shared, “I was blown away by all of the presentations!”
As our inaugural Summer Boot Camp comes to a close, Givsly and SuitUp couldn’t be more thankful to our partners for their outpour of support behind this campaign. From their time and action taken today, we are showing kids from underserved communities a brighter path for their futures. Lauren Reilly, Executive Director of SuitUp couldn’t have said it better, “our students don’t get experiences like this. They don’t get to learn the ins and outs of marketing strategy, ad campaigns and business pitches at their schools. We are so thrilled that the Givsly community and the marketing industry came together to provide access and opportunity this summer. Because of their support, we were able to serve over 750 children this summer.”
Givsly and SuitUp are excited to announce that we are coming back in Q1 of 2022 to kick off a new year with another bootcamp style industry-wide campaign. We look forward to working with our partners again to help shape the future leaders of tomorrow.
Check out a video recap here and the impact report here. To learn more about how you can get involved in the next campaign, reach out to info@givsly.com or head to https://www.volunteersuitup.com/. One last thank you to dentsu, AdTheorent, Fox, Index Exchange, Initiative, LiveRamp, MobileFuse, Smartly.io, SOCi, and Vistar Media.