The New Year has brought with it some very sad news. My colleague and friend Sue Gardiner passed away on January 1. Prior to her retirement, Sue was Joint Managing Director of Millward Brown UK from 1998 to 2005, having previously led the global Unilever account team for many years. Many of you reading this post will have known Sue, and like me will no doubt be shocked and saddened at the loss of someone so incredibly full of life.
Reflecting on this sad news has brought many memories of Sue to mind, but I want to share the three that most sum up the power of her personality.
I first met Sue on a Market Research Society training course held in a hotel in Banbury, England. For some reason we seemed to hit it off, and, along with the rest of our breakout group, we blatantly ignored the tasks assigned to us in favor of midnight games of croquet, climbing the Banbury Cross – a local historical monument, and drinking in the bar.
Our group assignment had been to create an ad brief for the launch of a new air freshener, based on research findings provided to us. With minutes to go, drawing on her experience as brand manager for Bird’s Custard, Sue came up with a simple brief which demonstrated how the new product differed from others. The new product did not blow out a smell to cover up the old one, she said, but instead ate up the old smell, leaving the air clean. Her one-minute presentation (which I seem to remember was voted one of the best by the judges) was accompanied by sound effects – as only Sue could manage – and a drawing of a farting aerosol compared to the new solid air freshener which came complete with teeth to eat up noxious smells.
Not too long after this memorable first meeting, Sue and I joined Millward Brown. Sue was hired as a director, while I was a serf (the company being too small to have official job titles for people below director). Shortly thereafter, Sue and I ended up working on an Attitude & Usage study to segment the UK bra market. Needless to say, the subject matter provided Sue with endless amusement and multiple chances to embarrass her male colleagues and clients. Just one example would be the visit we made to a local department store, where Sue cleared the lingerie department of customers by holding up various pieces of intimate apparel and demanding to know who might wear each one. The client and I decided discretion was the better part of valor and kept a low profile in case the store management took exception at the sudden loss of customers.
Sue was not a person to hold back. She would argue her case with vehemence but, whatever the outcome, would be ready to leave any animosity behind and have a good time. I remember a fractious Millward Brown Board meeting in Amsterdam, where opinions were divided on an important decision facing us. Sue stated her case with passion and determination, but once the meeting was over, that was the end of the matter as far as she was concerned. After the meeting, we reconvened in a local cookery school, where the chefs chaperoned us through the preparation of a four-course meal. Sue’s enthusiasm and jollity soon helped get the group back on track and the evening ended enjoyably.
What I remember most about Sue is the exuberance of her personality, her ready smile and her booming laugh. Her positive attitude to life was evident in her approach to business as well. I know that many at Millward Brown, Unilever and elsewhere benefited from her wisdom as much as her personality. Knowing Sue was a delight. She will be missed by her family and all who knew her.
If you have memories that you would like to share, please do so.
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January 9th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Sue is what I would call a “smile merchant.”
My memory is of an afternoon train ride from London to Warwick where we bumped into each other after unrelated meetings in the capital (not uncommon for Warwick employees). The conversation jumped topics a lot, though steered pleasantly away from work stuff pretty quickly. At this point I was the American living abroad, so we talked a lot about travel and our shared need for adventure. The upshot of Sue’s many experiences, for lack of a more eloquent summary, was “Go for it.”
Thank you Sue for that chat and all those smiles.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:30 am
She was a Queen. Probably, the authentic source of the Millward Brown spirit.
Let’s hope her spirit will survive her.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:18 am
It was a real shock to hear that Sue had died.
I too think of her as one of the ‘originals’ after Maurice, Gordon and Gillian. We first met many years ago when we worked together on H J Heinz baby food research. As new parents this gave us an excellent opportunity to chat about our respective children…which we took full advantage of. Happy memories.
She was a lovely person, always full of energy, friendly and smiling. A great loss.
My sympathy to all her family.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
What a shock, so sad and feel utterly empty thinking about this loss. I have such fond memories of Sue, one of the very first senior Directors I worked for on Unilever many moons ago. I have heaps of funny memories, but one in particular sticks in my mind …. I was presenting the tracking to UL Portugal and had no Director at the time to come with me … so Sue pipes up “I’ve not been to Lisbon in ages, lets go and stay over in a nice hotel … i’ll have a look at the charts on the plane on the way over there”. Well needless to say we didn’t get chance to look at the charts on the plane so it was back to the hotel room (the night before the 8am debrief) that we first sat down and started looking through the OHP slides (yes, it was that long ago, lol). Well after going through all 89 of them, Sue picked out just 3, scribbled all over one of them and then said “This is our story”. It went down phenomenally well as you can imagine and afterwards we all went out for lunch and Sue rolled up her trouser legs in the sunshine and laughed so loud the client didn’t know what to do or say.
Sue, you’ll be sorely missed, you made such an impression on me and I send love to your wonderful kids and hubby.
Joe
January 11th, 2007 at 3:13 am
What a lot of beautiful memories she left behind.
I asked her for a meeting in London and when I arived at lunch there was also Sharon and Bob Meyers (whom I assumed was some junior director).
Even before we ordered she asked: “What do you want from us?”, and I said “To buy my company”, and her reply was “Why on earth would we want to do that?”.
This straight forward, down to earth way of dealing with an issue made a big success of the MB aquisition, and the success of the company in SA.
She will be remembered by the South African staff as being a very basic loving human being foremost, and an astute business leader at the same time.
January 11th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Long after I’d left MB, having been a “serf” like Nigel and even pre-dating him (tho I think he’s a little older - thanks, Nigel!) I heard Sue described as “the smiling face of Millward Brown” by someone who’d come up against Gordon Brown in a transaction and, needless to say, lost out.
Truth is, he’d have lost out to Sue as well. Sue’s light touch overlay a keen intelligence and a generous measure of tough-mindedness she could call on whenever she needed it. Yet she was also a generous colleague, and a friend, to all of us who were lucky enough to spend time with her. Her clear-sighted, light-hearted way of doing business made long hours and tricky questions a great deal more fun to take on.
I remember doing car groups in Bristol and sitting on terrace of our hotel late at night, overlooking the Avon Gorge and the suspension bridge, drinking Stolly in the moonlight. After we’d solved every conceivable aspect of the project Sue talked til the grey hours of sailing, travellling, and her son (then an infant) and her hopes for all three.
When I re-connected with MB in the late 90’s she was in full flow still, taking every challenge her life could throw at her with grace, whether on diving trips with the family to Skye or travelling the world for MBI.
I am sorry she didn’t get the time to enjoy a longer retirement but few people in this world will end their lives having lived as fully as she.
Sue was an inspiration. We will all miss her.