After Series A Funding, Candy Digital Names Andre Llewellyn CMO

Looking to diversify its work in the digital collectibles space, non-fungible token firm Candy Digital announced the hiring of Andre Llewellyn as chief marketing officer. "My goal is to make Candy a beloved household name when it comes to sports fandom and digital collectibles," Llewellyn told Adweek. "This won’t happen overnight because the space is so new and requires a lot of consumer education. "The full potential of the product (NFTs) is still being explored," he added. "But in a few years when the education is there, I want Candy to be the brand people think of when they think about sports fandom and digital experiences." Llewellyn will oversee all marketing and communications strategy for Candy to grow its customer base and drive multichannel engagement. He officially began the role on Oct. 25. "Andre’s extensive brand develop and consumer product marketing experience, his collaborative leadership style, passion for transformative technology and excitement about building the future make him a perfect fit for Candy as we work to define the new frontier of sports collectibles and fan engagement," said CEO Scott Lawin. From Baseball to Brand Investing, Alex Rodriguez Plays to What He Knows—and Keeps Learning A startup looking for a home run Candy Digital was founded in June by Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin; cryptocurrency firm Galaxy Digital founder and CEO Mike Novogratz; and VaynerMedia CEO and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. Fanatics is Candy Digital's majority shareholder. Last month, Candy Digital announced that it had completed a $100 million Series A financing round, reaching a valuation of $1.5 billion. Investors in the startup included SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, Insight Partners and Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. Candy Digital is Major League Baseball’s official partner for NFTs and collectibles. The company operates the MLB's official NFT ecosystem where fans and collectors can purchase, trade and share officially licensed NFTs. Candy Digital is also the exclusive licensee of 13 Nascar Cup Teams for the creation of NFTs. So far, the company has released World Series NFTs to celebrate the L.A. Dodgers’ 2020 victory and the Atlanta Braves' 2021 win. It has also designed a series of NFTs to commemorate the league’s first official Lou Gehrig Day. "Candy’s approach to the NFT space is based on the idea that there is no one-size-fits-all product solution for fans," Lawin said. "We are focused on building a range of digital collectibles and experiences that bring fans and collectors closer to the sports, teams and players that they love through innovative, community-based ecosystems." Thinking beyond sports Llewellyn comes to Candy Digital after a five-year run with Instagram. He worked in global brand marketing and spearheaded the social media platform's efforts in launching Instagram Shopping and Instagram Stories. Before Instagram, Llewellyn led the development of real-time marketing and social strategy at Procter & Gamble while working on the Tide team. He also worked at agencies including Wunderman, Ogilvy and DigitasLBi. Llewellyn noted that one of the biggest marketing moves for Candy is integrating with and enhancing the in-game experience in a way that blurs the line between marketing and product. "Another opportunity is to engage with adjacent communities," he said. "While we’ve started with sports, the vision is to branch out into entertainment and culture more broadly, which opens us up to a range of marketing opportunities which we’re excited about. And given that NFTs are generally a visual medium, we’re especially excited about partnering with visual artists to help tell our story." Lessons Learned During My First NFT Adventure