Toy Retailer Camp Hires Former HBO Marketing Executive

Mr. Spadaccini was most recently chief marketing officer at AT&T Inc. unit WarnerMedia Entertainment, where he led marketing for brands including HBO, TBS and TNT. He left that post last year. Mr. Spadaccini had a 20-year career at HBO, with roles including executive vice president of marketing.

Camp, which opened its first location in 2018 in New York, now has six stores, including four in its hometown, one in Dallas and one in Norwalk, Conn. The company plans to open four more by year-end, including one in Los Angeles, and aims to have 20 stores by the end of 2022, Ms. Markofsky Speyer said.

The retailer offers experiences in stores including interactive games, music classes, yoga and make-your-own macramé. It started offering virtual events such as birthday parties amid stay-at-home restrictions last year to fight the spread of Covid-19.

Camp intends to ramp up marketing as it expands, Mr. Spadaccini said.

“They’ve experienced a tremendous amount of growth, but it’s been almost all organic, just based on word-of-mouth and…giving customers a phenomenal experience,” Mr. Spadaccini said.

The company wants to implement a more advanced marketing operation, he said, including efforts that raise awareness of the brand along with more sophisticated targeting to drive sales.

“As we start to scale with new store openings and new experiences, you’re going to start to see much more investment at the top of the funnel,” he said, referring to broad efforts to increase consumer awareness.

Ms. Markofsky Speyer said traffic at Camp’s timed, ticketed events, including a “Paw Patrol Experience” at its Dallas store, is exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

“There’s certainly an appetite for in-person,” she said.

Write to Megan Graham at megan.graham@wsj.com