Emma HardieEmmaHardie

Emma Hardie sits on the Board of Directors at Aardman and as Executive Commercial and Brand Director is responsible for all commercial, distribution and licensing, marketing and brand partnership activity across the company. 

Emma joined Aardman in 2024 from BBC Studios, where she led their Global Entertainment’s commercial strategy; overseeing the division's investment portfolio for new creative partnerships and programmes, managing commercial negotiations across co-productions and co-development, and driving brand partnerships and ancillary opportunities for global formats such as Dancing with the Stars (Strictly Come Dancing), Top Gear, The 1% Club and The Great British Bake Off and scripted series such as The Office, Ghosts and Luther. 

Prior to that, Emma was Commercial and Brand Director for BBC Earth at BBC Studios, overseeing the brand's activity globally, as well as driving business development opportunities on landmark series Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II to expand reach and revenue, including a two Snapchat series, a Google Daydream VR experience, and several Imax films. 

Emma spent two years as strategy consultant at Deloitte, advising Media companies’ executive boards on content and corporate strategy with clients ranging from BBC, The Guardian, Virgin Media, Sky, and international broadcast channels NHK, DR and RTVE. 

Before entering the business side of TV, Emma spent time in development at Working Title Films, as well as Post Production at Films@59, followed by 5 years as a freelancer in production management on feature films such as Anna Karenina, RUSH and Paddington Bear. She has also produced 2 short films, one of which was selected for Raindance Film Festival and the London Short Film Festival. Emma is a member of BAFTA and Women in Film and TV.