Anna-Claire Clendon

Marketing & Sales Executive - enlight photoanna-Claire Clendon

BCom(Hons) & BA

Anna-Claire was the recipient of the Rookie Marketer of the Year Award at the 2010 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards.

The Marketing department at Otago is one of the largest in the Southern hemisphere which means whatever you are interested in you are going to get exposure to. At Otago the lecturers are continually pushing you to think outside the box and change your perceptions on how conventional marketing can be applied. I chose to do my dissertation on environmentally Sustainable Consumption Behaviour and I found a lot of support and enthusiasm for my ideas at Otago.

Currently, I am working for a young company, enlight photo ltd, which is based in New Zealand’s premier Business incubator, The ICEHOUSE. We manufacture and sell a photographic lighting accessory known as the orbis™ ring flash and are on track to exceed NZ$1m in revenue in our first trading year. In my role as Marketing and Sales Executive I am the entire marketing and sales department, so I get to work on everything. Last week I worked on sales manuals, managed our global distribution and media network, came up with a new segmentation strategy and directed a photo shoot.

Otago gives you great access to some excellent grad programmes in big companies and although I would like to work in this environment someday there are definitely benefits to working in a small business. By getting exposure to everything and being directly accountable for everything you do you gain experience quickly. I actually apply the theory I used in my classes everyday and I constantly need to update myself in the latest trends in Marketing in order to ensure my business comes out on top. I was always inspired by the entrepreneurs who spoke at Otago, now I work with them every day. The lessons I learnt at Otago were not just in the classroom. Studying here gives you all the ingredients you need to make it in the industry.