Meet Emma: Leading marketing built on real print experience

At WTTB, craft isn’t learned in theory - it’s earned in the work.

Emma Thompson knows that better than most. Her career didn’t start with a title; it started at the bottom - making tea, sweeping floors, cleaning plates, before earning her place on a five-colour Heidelberg when very few women in the UK were trusted on press. From there she moved into account management for some of the Precision Printing’s biggest customers, led teams, and now steers marketing for WTTB.

At the start of this year, when asked what she’d do differently in 2025, her answer was simple: “Less Teams calls. More doing. No one needs to have a call about a call.”

That bias towards action pairs with a say-it-as-it-is honesty. Not everyone loves blunt feedback in the moment, but print relies on the right information moving at the right time, so standards travel cleanly across departments and land with customers intact.

Because for Emma, marketing doesn’t sit apart from production; it exists to amplify it. Every campaign, every email, every customer touchpoint is built from that same mindset: clarity, delivery, and proof. The press may have changed, but the principle hasn’t - what leaves WTTB must work in the real world. That’s why her leadership is grounded in cross-department understanding.

When she briefs a campaign, it’s built with production capacity in mind. When she plans promotions, she knows what needs to happen operationally to make them real. When she reads a customer review, she connects it straight back to process - not for blame, but for improvement.

Her team works like a print line: fast, clear, sequenced. No wasted motion, no circular conversations, just output that hits deadline and purpose.

Titles don’t mean much to Emma. They exist for clarity, not status. She’s known for not leading with her title in conversation - because WTTB isn’t powered by hierarchies, it’s powered by contribution. Whether you’re speaking to customers, keeping the place running, planning the flow, or telling the story, every role supports the next so the work can land.

But if there’s one thing Emma’s unapologetically vocal about, it’s print resellers. They’ve always been front of mind - the heartbeat of WTTB. She’ll be the first to admit she’s probably got on a few nerves over the years banging that drum, but with good reason. These customers are our bread and butter. Their continued support keeps the presses running and the lights on - we look after them, and they look after us.

“Resellers built this business. I’ll never stop fighting their corner - because when they grow, we all do.” — Emma Thompson

For 2026, Emma’s focus is crystal clear: give resellers more tools, content, and campaigns to help them grow. It’s not just about selling more print - it’s about building the kind of support that keeps their businesses strong, season after season. Because when they win, WTTB wins. That’s how Print Sorcery works: a chain of trust where every person’s craft matters.

For customers, it means what they see in market - every offer, every headline, every journey - isn’t marketing theory. It’s marketing built on 32 years of print, production, and precision. It’s grounded in what actually works, not what sounds good.

Emma’s journey is a reminder of what WTTB is built on: people who’ve lived the process, turned experience into shared practice, and grown with the business.

Print Sorcery isn’t theory. It’s repetition, resilience, results - and the honesty to keep improving as one team. In your world, do job titles help or hinder the kind of teamwork that keeps standards moving end-to-end?