Mark Susko

Mark Susko Creative is a multidisciplinary agency practice that provides
strategic design solutions for trade show exhibits, retail merchandising, and brand development. Also engaging in media services for commercial photography and corporate events.

DESIGN SERVICES
• Engaging in predesign research, in-store reconnaissance, and strategy
consulting for design-development projects and marketing initiatives.
• Authoring design strategy decks targeted at addressing specific goals.
• Providing design-development services for retail displays,
merchandising fixture systems, and thematic in-store environments.
• Creating architectural trade show exhibit designs, spanning in-line
through custom-island configurations. Including fabric structures.
• Providing visual layouts for exhibit graphics and signage production.
• Tactical graphic design services for print and digital, infographics,
brand development, and marketing collateral.
• Authoring detailed client presentation decks, and product sell sheets.
• Functioning as a project manager and account manager.
• Able to moderate qualitative focus groups.

MEDIA SERVICES
• Providing commercial photography and corporate event photography.
• Functioning in a photojournalism capacity covering politics, spot news,
human interest, community events, and sports.
• Published in various media outlets, digital and print.
• Creating and producing video narratives.
• Social media content development.
• Member of the South Carolina Press Association.

VOLUNTEER WORK
St. Baldrick’s Foundation
Cancer Survivors Park Alliance
Cancer Society of Greenville County
• Providing media services for photojournalism, event photography,
and videography, all in support of various communications initiatives.

Responsible for the strategic direction and operational leadership of the
design department, model shop, and company marketing initiatives.
• Leveraged predesign research, strategic thinking, and tactical industrial
design to innovate and create targeted solutions for retail merchandising
systems. Servicing convenience stores, large format grocery, tobacco
and nicotine, plus big box and specialty channels.
• Managed five direct reports, plus managed external creative talent.
• Responsible for all of the product marketing collateral, plus managing
company spend on digital campaigns, print ads, and marketing vendors.
• Responsible for managing the redesign and continued operation of the
ImageWorks Display website.
• Provided photography services for the merchandising system visuals
and showroom, plus covering the company social events.
• Managed all the social media content, and contributed in content
creation with strategic design, photography, and videography narratives.

Responsible for tactical retail display design, producing themed retail
environments for shopper marketing testing, and facilitating shopper
marketing research. Plus providing services for commercial photography
and corporate event photography.

• Leveraged design strategy, sensory marketing, and consumer insights,
to work towards transforming in-store shopper experiences. Specifically
targeting the salty snack aisle, perimeter, and beverage isle within large
format and drug channels. While also addressing beverage coolers and
temporary floor displays within the convenience store channel.
• Conducted predesign research in multiple markets and across multiple
channels, for the purpose of understanding the current state of retail.
• Studied the e ects of sensory marketing on shoppers in retail settings.
• Designed and produced the SMART Lab thematic vignettes, which
were extensively used for qualitative and quantitative shopper marketing
studies, plus executive committee and strategy planning summits.
• Worked in tandem with the Merchandising Center of Excellence to
design various merchandising fixtures and component accessories for
shopper marketing testing both in SMART Lab and in the field.
• Created consumer-targeted messaging and wayfinding signage for
permanent use in the SMART Lab, and in specific shopper studies.
• Authored high-level presentation decks for the strategy and planning
needs of various shopper marketing teams and PepsiCo executives.
• Provided traditional graphic design and branding development
services for the various brands within the PepsiCo portfolio.
• Provided commercial photography services for set design, corporate
events, PepsiCo product visuals, and on-location leadership portraits.
• Also charged with critiquing the display design concepts provided by
the various agencies of record; with a focus on ensuring that the creative
concepts were grounded in reality, and on brand.

Responsible for conceptual design services developing permanent retail displays,
for industries including: automotive, entertainment, apparel, and toys.
• Tasked with creating design solutions for permanent retail displays,
POS merchandising fixtures, and in-store sign systems.
• Created dimensional design layouts and presentation renderings for displays.
• Authored presentation decks, and created set-up instruction documents.
• Provided graphic design services for concepts and prepress layouts.