Mark Thomas – author, marketing consultant and future work expert

Mark has been at the helm of his innovative and award-winning marketing consultancy for 30 years.  Over that time Word Association has served over 200 clients, created more than 50 jobs and turned over in excess of £15 million.

The consultancy has featured in the top 10 positions of PR Week regional and sector league tables and has won his profession’s leading accolade, a CIPR Excellence Award for a PR, design and digital campaign the judges described as “utterly compelling”.

Big name clients include BMW and IBM as well as government bodies, universities, NHS Trusts, local authorities, national charities and SMEs working across a wide range of sectors.

Hybrid working

Mark puts down much of Word Association’s success to his innovative style of management.  Long before it was fashionable in the late 1990s, Mark managed his team remotely making the most of the then emerging technology, trail-blazing a results-focused approach built on trusting his workers.

Word Association was a Future Work Award winner in 2002 and has been featured in the Mail on Sunday, The Guardian and best-selling Business Book, Future Work.  His story has inspired and entertained audiences at numerous conferences – both nationally and internationally –  run by bodies such as the Institute of Directors and British Chambers of Commerce.  As a pioneer and expert in hybrid working he has become a leading authority on the future of work.

Writer

Mark started his career as a regional newspaper reporter and has never left behind his passion for writing.  Today he is an author, freelance journalist and prolific blogger on a wide range of topics.  His book writing credits include Europe 1999, an AA published travel guide where he researched and wrote key chapters on Berlin, Warsaw and St Petersburg for following a year touring Europe with his family.

Today he is collaborating with future work expert Peter Thomson on a major new book, Never Going Back – How Covid-19 changed work for good. 

Due to be published in April 2021, it tells the dramatic story of how business scrambled to survive when the worldwide lockdowns began and how succesful organisations created a new business model enabling them to thrive on trust.  It looks at how our long-term physical and mental health is being impacted and how our homes, communities and our planet will be all the better for Covid.

Interests

Outside of work Mark is a keen runner, plays tennis in the Leicestershire County league and supports his home football team, Coventry City.

His main passion is travel, spending many months touring in his motorhome mainly in the UK and France.  He also loves the Moroccan city Marrakesh where he owns an apartment.  Other interests include politics, gardening and eating out.

He is also interested in Crisis Communications and has run a module on the topic as part of the University of Leicester MA in Media and Public Relations.