Sue Clark, Global Marketing Communications Manager
Meet Sue as she takes us through her inspiring career journey within Nidec Drives!
Read my story
My career journey with Control Techniques has been an exciting and interesting one. I joined Control Techniques in 1996 as a receptionist where my main duties were to receive visitors, answer and forward calls by way of switchboard, and receive, sort, and distribute daily post deliveries. Interacting with people was something I enjoyed but I wanted a career so kept a close eye on internal job opportunities. When a position in the marketing department as a Marketing Assistant came up, I knew this was where I would be able to grow, learn and be creative.
To say this is the best decision I ever made is an understatement. I got to work with group of incredible people who all taught me so much about marketing. I feel that deep down I knew I had a creative side because it wasn’t long before I was compelled to make things look better, to pitch in when design decisions were being made and to take on additional projects that involved creative design like posters, adverts, and literature. I taught myself how to use design software so I could effectively do this work.
More and more design work started to come my way and to ensure I was equipped to take on this type of work the company offered me the opportunity to gain a qualification in graphic design. I went on to study for a HNC in Graphic Design and on completion was promoted to the role of Graphic Designer. I then spent almost 15 years as the only Graphic Designer in the company, which for a company of this size was an achievement in itself.
As more and more design work came in, it inevitably meant that I was struggling to cope with the workload so at this point I was promoted to Creative Marketing Manager with an additional graphic designer employed to start off a small studio team. We conceptualised visuals based on requirements and created all the assets and marketing materials needed for a busy and expanding drives company.
As the company grew, so too did my team, I was promoted again to head of Studio which meant I was now responsible for all the studio functions including Graphic Design, Brand and Communications plus Audio Visual. This role included assisting with the hiring new people, onboarding, and training of all studio staff, implementing marketing strategies, managing, and participating in events, and managing the day-to-day workloads of the Studio projects.
Three years ago, I was promoted to the role that I hold today of Global Marketing Communications Manager. I am now responsible for the entire global marketing communications function. This involves creating and deploying a Global Marketing strategy and plan, managing, and overseeing all areas of marketing for the business, creating a consistent brand image, launching products and campaigns, in alignment with the business sales strategy for growth.
My proudest moments over the past 3 years have been the launching of our new brand, bringing a new visual identity and tone of voice to the business which has made us a bold challenger in a crowded drives industry. We now stand out from our competition.
We went on to launch a revolutionary new product, during a pandemic, which served us up many challenges, we overcame many obstacles to achieve our end goal. It turned out to be the biggest and most successful product launch in the company’s history so what an achievement for my team.
I have found Control Techniques to be a progressive cutting-edge technology company, where, if you have the drive and ambition to succeed, then there is no reason you too couldn’t achieve great things.
It makes me incredibly proud to have got myself to where I am today, from where I started back on reception 27 years ago.