Müller Delivers Workshop for our Young Voices Volunteering Group

in Partnership with

On Friday the 5^th of April, our Young Voices volunteers had their first in-person meeting of 2024 at the Pocklington Hub in London. The day provided an opportunity for the students to meet each other in person, strengthening their friendships and teamwork skills.  In addition, it provided them with a chance to discuss issues facing blind and partially sighted young people in the areas of sport and retail.

Our Young Voices is a group of young people between 11 and 18 years old from across the country. They come together to share ideas, develop skills. They are passionate about having a positive impact on themselves and other blind and partially sighted young people.

In the morning, the students got the opportunity to hear from Markéta Kristlová, Brand Equity Lead at Müller who shared her skills, experience and knowledge of branding and marketing with the students. She started the session by explaining her career path, which the students really enjoyed. This resulted in the students asking some insightful questions such as how she got into the profession and examples of campaigns she has been involved with.

From there, she moved on to discuss some key principles of marketing which the teams could use in their project work. Markéta challenged the students with some tasks relating to evaluating some existing brands and whether their branding was easily identified as well as seeing if the students could create an elevator pitch to convince their best friend to go on holiday to their dream destination.

The two-hour session was fun and insightful. It helped the students develop their skills in areas such as creativity, communication and problem solving.

Sofia Young-Santamaria, a Young Voice volunteer said:

“It was a lovely experience getting together with the other Young Voices in person and having the opportunity to meet new members. The day consisted of a brief introduction, followed by a session delivered by Markéta who works for Müller. Markéta openly spoke to us about her career and her experience in the marketing industry. This was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of different companies and get to ask any questions related to marketing as a career. We were then able to use this knowledge as a foundation to inform our Young Voices project work.”

Kate O’Hagan, Student Participation Manager at TPT said:

“We are at the start of their two-year programme where they will design and complete a project in an area, they are passionate about. This will help them develop key skills to help them now and in the future. At the start of their projects, I felt that understanding marketing and branding was paramount for success. Having a specialist voice in this area was important for developing the student’s skillset as well as exposing them to a new career path they may not have considered before. I was so grateful to have Müller agree to be part of this day. They really inspired and engaged the young people who went away with improved understanding to help boost their projects.”

Parent of Young Voice Volunteer said:

“My son completely loved the experience with TPT and Müller. When we collected him from the train station in the evening he was brimming with enthusiasm and talked at length about the day and what he had learned. He spoke eloquently about the input delivered by Markéta from Müller.  His description was captivating; he was utterly fascinated. Please pass my heartfelt thanks on to your colleagues.”

Markéta Kristlová, Brand Equity Lead at Müller said:

“It was great to meet students so engaged and eager to learn about marketing and brands. I felt very honoured to spend a day with them, to share a bit about my career path and how it is to work in brand marketing in FMCG companies. They asked very good questions, and it was great to see them putting the theory into practice while working on their projects. I genuinely enjoyed the day and hope to keep working with students and Thomas Pocklington Trust in future.”

Jen Sweeney, Corporate Engagement Manager at Thomas Pocklington Trust said:

“The session was wonderfully engaging for all the students who were able to gain meaningful insight into the world or marketing and branding, as well as learning about Markéta’s journey at Muller and within the FMCG sector.”

If you would like to share your skills with blind and partially sighted interns, students and employment seekers, please contact jen.sweeney@pocklington.org.uk or call Jen on 07508 958914.