My seed is the power to communicate

Yuki Sakate

New Graduate Marketing (Semiconductor) CLAVIS Company
Strategic Marketing Office

Sakate says that he struggled for the first three years after joining the company. However, his superiors noticed his strength in "the ability to communicate information in an easy-to-understand way," and now he is active in marketing. He says, "Right now is the most fulfilling time of my working life."

Q1: What is your current job and what is rewarding about it?

A new path prepared by my boss after identifying my strengths

I am currently working in the Strategic Marketing Department at CLAVIS Company where I am currently involved in marketing activities. Immediately after joining the company, I worked as a Field Application Engineer (FAE), providing technical support for products from a US semiconductor manufacturer.
I decided to join Macnica because I was attracted to the FAE position, which would connect people and technology on a global stage, but the work was harder than I had imagined (laughs). I was entrusted with big tasks from a young age, but the technical skills required were also high, and I often felt so ashamed of my inexperience that I ran to the company bathroom and cried, and my colleagues had to comfort me.

But after three years of hard work, just when I thought I had finally become independent as an engineer, my boss at the time called me and said, "Sakate-san, why don't you try marketing?" Up until then, part of my job had been compiling answers to customer questions and creating manuals, but my boss recognized my strength in my ability to communicate information in an easy-to-understand way, and thought that a marketing position would allow me to make the most of that strength, so he opened up a new path for me. I was very happy that my boss had noticed my efforts up to that point.

As a result of these experiences, I ended up being in charge of marketing the products handled by CLAVIS Company. While typical marketing involves creating a system that naturally sells products, our job is to disseminate information to customers, raise awareness of the products, and create opportunities for them to learn more about the products. In other words, our job is to "create connections" between customer needs and CLAVIS Company 's products, solutions, and services.
In normal sales activities and technical support, we explain the strengths and usage of the products we propose, but marketing takes a step further and focuses on the perspective of "what are the issues the customer is facing?" and "how can these products solve those issues?", and it is important to communicate information in an easy-to-understand manner. As my boss recommended, this position makes good use of my strengths and I feel it is a good fit for me.

Daily Schedule

8:45

Morning meetings, working from home/come to work

Short stories about the rotation system were announced at the online morning assembly after the start of work.
On this day, we introduced the exhibition novelties and discussed the items that we enjoyed and our next production ideas.
9:00

Video production planning meeting,
Supplier Meeting

Planning videos, webinars, and events co-hosted with suppliers
Sales, technology, and marketing will work together as one team to increase product awareness and strengthen customer relationships.
12:00

Lunch, rest

Lunchtime
I change my mood by looking at the scenery or commenting on the TV (laughs).

13:00

Meetings with external vendors, practical work

Visited a marketing event in Osaka and exchanged information with various tool companies
We considered whether we could utilize the latest techniques in our planning.
18:00

End of Business
19:00

dinner

Relaxing dinner time with a family of four
Before putting the kids to bed, we have fun playing games and reading picture books, but in the end, I'm the one who falls asleep first (lol).

Q2: An episode in which you grew

A sense of accomplishment from hosting an event with over 300 participants

We once received a request from a US manufacturer that "we don't care how we do it, just want you to raise awareness of our product." The product from that manufacturer was an AI-based facial recognition and attribute analysis product that had overwhelming performance advantages over competing products, and although its use was widespread overseas at the time, there were only a limited number of examples of its use in Japan, so both the manufacturer and CLAVIS Company needed to implement effective sales promotion activities.

Therefore, we planned an AI utilization seminar for manufacturing customers who have a growing need to "improve the efficiency of factory line inspection processes and factory worker work management." When holding the event, we were conscious of making it an attractive and rewarding event for our customers.
To that end, even though we only had a short period of two and a half months, we arranged for presentations to be given by companies that have actually implemented AI and are beginning to see results, as well as companies that are developing AI solutions for the manufacturing industry, so that we could introduce implementation cases that customers would find useful.As a result, we were able to create an event packed with information that was appealing to customers, and more than 300 people attended.

We were very pleased to be able to provide information to a number of customers that would require a significant amount of resources and time to approach through regular sales activities. We also believe that we were able to make a significant contribution to our company and our suppliers by obtaining lead information from the participants (information on customers who are interested in our products and services and may purchase from us in the near future). We will never forget the great sense of accomplishment we felt when we received words of gratitude from many customers, our supplier manufacturers, and our internal team members through this event.
Because we on the marketing team don't have routine, set tasks, we have to set our own goals, think about how we can achieve them, and then put them into practice. It's a difficult job, but it's also interesting because it's a trial-and-error process.

MY VISIONFuture goals and aspirations

In marketing, my role is to introduce the world's most cutting-edge technologies to domestic customers and effectively monitor their reactions. Thanks to this, I feel that I am gradually becoming better at marketing that can lead to sales. In the future, I would like to listen to what our customers have to say, keep an eye on social issues, and play a role in matching them with Macnica 's solutions and technologies.

In my personal life, I enjoy spending time with my husband and two children, and I feel like I'm getting closer to my ideal of "working hard and having a fulfilling private life." I'm currently in the position of department manager (section manager). I feel like I've grown in terms of smoothly carrying out work, but in the future, I want to become a North Star-like presence that can show my team members the direction they need to move forward without hesitation.

Message

I have been involved in marketing for 10 years. At Macnica, I had the opportunity to experience launching marketing for the semiconductor business from scratch. With the support of our suppliers, customers, and colleagues in other departments, we have established the foundation for B2B initiatives, and we are now planning the next stage.
We would love to work with people who are not bound by convention and who can create new challenges together.