MARK NORMAN

CONTENT DIRECTOR

In a 30-year career Mark has held senior roles in newspapers, magazines, broadcast – including both BBC radio and television and national commercial radio – and marketing.

After training as a journalist, he worked in local weekly newspapers before moving to regional daily news, at The Northern Echo in Darlington (still the greatest newspaper ever printed), and from there to The Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday and The Independent.

In 1991 he moved into broadcast journalism with the BBC as a reporter at BBC Three Counties Radio, a station he subsequently went on to lead to record audiences and a record-breaking 18 Radio Academy Awards, including Station of the Year. From 2010 – 2011 he was Head of BBC Local Radio Development, responsible for BBC strategy for regional radio broadcasting.

As a journalist and editorial leader he has covered some of the biggest breaking news stories of the last 30 years, including the Kings Cross Fire, the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster, Lockerbie, Piper Alpha, the Hatfield and Potters Bar rail disasters, the closure of the Vauxhall manufacturing plant in Luton and the Buncefield oil depot explosion.

In 1990, he was one of the first journalists to uncover, investigate and expose systematic child abuse in the Catholic church. Mark’s work contributed to the imprisonment in America of Father Anton Mowat and helped pave the way for further widespread investigative reports into one of the biggest cover-ups in recent history.  

After a brief period as Commercial Director of national digital radio station Planet Rock, Mark worked for a national charity as Group Head of Commercial Content where he led a team generating more than £1.5m in revenue from a standing start.

He has worked on above the line and below the line marketing campaigns, written brand campaigns and written brand and advertising copy.

He launched Little Joe Media in 2012 and has been privileged to work with a number of blue-chip clients, including Skoda Motorsport, Hyundai, Kuoni, the Radio Academy and the BBC.