Anna Rafferty leaves Pottermore for BBC Worldwide

Anna Rafferty is leaving Pottermore to join the BBC Worldwide as its director of digital marketing.

She will take up her new role on 3rd January and report to Jackie Lee-Joe, BBC Worldwide’s chief marketing officer.

Rafferty joined Pottermore, J K Rowling’s digital publishing, e-commerce and entertainment arm, in January 2015, after running Penguin Books Digital between 2003 and 2014, before founding her own consultancy.

In her new role at BBC Worldwide, Rafferty will set the BBC commercial and international arm’s overarching digital plans for major marketing launches, its branded services such as BBC Brit, BBC Earth and BBC First, as well as world-renowned brand franchises like Top Gear and Doctor Who.

She will also be tasked with developing the BBC’s direct-to-consumer offerings, editorially leading the company’s short-form and social content production unit BBC Worldwide Digital Studios, and driving the corporation’s reputation in the marketplace for digital innovation.

Rafferty said: “I have loved every second of my time at Pottermore and am so proud of everything - from the Patronus Experience, to Fantastic Beasts - that I was lucky enough to work on.  The opportunity to now join the team at BBC Worldwide, crafting digital marketing and storytelling across a portfolio of such incredible and well-loved BBC properties, well, it feels like the ultimate Christmas present.  I can't wait for January.”

Jackie Lee-Joe, BBC Worldwide’s chief marketing officer, added: “The pace of evolution in the digital and mobile media world is terrifying to some but thrilling for others who not only see the opportunities – but have the requisite skills to grab them. Anna’s one of those people and her track record in developing story-telling skills, embracing new forms of content and communication, and building direct and meaningful relationships with key audiences and partners is exactly what we need to ensure that our brands cut-through at every level.”

A spokerson for Pottermore said the company was "grateful" for Rafferty's "many significant contributions to the company which has helped put us on the path to profitability for the current fiscal year".

"We wish her well in her new position," they added.

Henri Stuart-Reckling, Pottermore’s marketing director since 2015, will assume many of Rafferty's responsibilities in the newly created role of digital director which oversees Pottermore’s Digital Channels (pottermore.com and its social presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram). Pottermore now has three distinct lines of business, the company said: Digital Channels, headed by Stuart-Reckling, E-commerce, headed by Verity Batchelder and Publishing, headed by Gillian Lasker.  All three business leaders report to Pottermore c.e.o Susan Jurevics.

Last year the company recorded a pre-tax loss of £4.9m last year compared with £6m a year earlier, according to its accounts, but sales of J K Rowling’s e-books and audiobooks had almost doubled from a year earlier to £15.1m after inking deals with retailers such as Amazon, Apple and Audible.