Each fortnight Creative Business News gives a prominent member of the region’s creative sector the chance to reflect on their career, their work and their ambitions by answering 10 questions about themselves.
Name: Ruth Clarke 
Job title: Deputy managing director
Current company: Six
Age: 43
My big break
I always wanted to work in media and communications but didn’t know, after studying both of these, that this would end up specifically in agency world. I met John and Steve (owners of Six) when we were initially a very small, highly-creative and busy graphic design agency. They needed an extra pair of hands to run the office. We were so busy working on all kinds of projects from packaging to branding and diverse campaigns that after a couple of months I stepped in as an account manager, picked up my first brief and successfully delivered it, all under John’s nose! With that I then undertook a CIM Marketing qualification and never looked back.
My first job
My first ‘proper’ job was working for an independent record company called Vital, which was affiliated with the now legendary Revolver Records in Bristol. I was part of a presale team responsible for sales and marketing of new up-and-coming artists. It was a great first job, lots of gigs and free records, and a fantastic grounding in sales and all the challenges that go with that.
My current role
My role now is quite different. I help run our lovely vibrant agency, where protecting our culture is key to how we operate. I’ve been really lucky to work with our senior team to market the agency over the years and more recently helping to rebrand from Studio Six to Six – a bold reflection on how far we have come. https://six.agency/case-studies/six/
My typical day
I’m in the office from around 8.30am. We’re very lucky to work in a beautiful converted church in Clifton. My time is mostly split between working on our new business, meeting new clients and building new partnerships to working with the wider team on bringing our own strategy to life. I set time aside in the week to meet with the team to push forward various initiatives such as improving processes or our people development strategy. Studying for CIPD is keeping me very busy, but in our quest to constantly improve how we attract and retain brilliant talent in the agency, it’s a passion very close to my heart to be more strategic in this area. I spend time with the rest of the senior team to review our commercial health, using various reports and metrics to benchmark our own targets. It is a necessary task that has to be done weekly to enable us to plan efficiently and avoid risk. I try and leave half an hour to squeeze in a lunchtime swim, as it’s important to get some headspace and relax. So, after a day of having my nose in a spreadsheet or proposal, I’m then home to the family where my real job starts.
My proudest moment/project
I’m afraid I can’t pin down one exact project as I’m constantly proud of the work the Six team produce. Some of our photography work for Bristol UWE is really fantastic, but equally the cinemagraph imagery we have produced for Lloyds Bank is really lovely and technically very challenging.
My best piece of advice
Take full responsibility for your own destiny and be as strategic as you can with this to take your career where you want it to go – with confidence. It’s ultimately down to you, so remember to be yourself.
My ambition (that I haven’t yet achieved)
I’m really fulfilled in my work life and absolutely love what I do and whom I work with. I guess I would still like to find the right balance between being effective and having that work/life balance, which can be a challenge. I am very lucky to have a fantastic supportive husband.
My favourite creative work/campaign (that I haven’t worked on)
A tricky one as there are lots. I guess most recently I’ve been inspired by a campaign created in the US post-Trump elections. http://creativity-online.com/work/the-when-project-the-when-project/50922 The campaign is produced by McCann New York, and tries to inspire young women to be leaders. The project captures interviews with young girls who were asked what they would do if they were president. Some of the responses are as wide as “stopping terrorism” to “decorating the White House with glitter.” I love the fact that they are trying to raise the profile of girls becoming leaders in a really positive way.
My predictions for the creative sector
Despite the gloomy Brexit predications, talent in technology and digital media will continue to be very important to our sector in order for it to grow and deliver creative effectiveness.
My inspiration
The brilliant new talent around me and the opportunity to learn from those with unique technical capability and insights. Meeting new people and learning about what they do and what makes them tick really inspires me. I love to keep my ears and eyes wide open to change and sometimes you have to take a risk in order to remain inspired, whether that is trying something new or taking on a different approach to a challenge, the team around you can help this inspiration.
Email: hello@six.agency
Tel: 0117 915 0066
