Collectibles startup beefing up its ranks as it branches into new businesses.
(Bloomberg) — Fanatics Inc. has brought on a key marketing executive from Red Bull amid a hiring spree that has included tech executives and high-profile sports agents.
Ken Turner, formerly chief marketing officer for Red Bull North America, is joining Fanatics’s trading-card and collectibles division to fill the same role. He had led Red Bull’s sizable marketing operations in the region.
“The collectibles category, specifically trading cards, is a category which has received very little, if any, marketing over the years,” said Mike Mahan, the chief executive officer of Fanatics Collectibles, who joined the company last year. “We have real ambition with respect to our marketing efforts.”
Turner joins a cohort of executives who have been lured to Fanatics over the past year as the company expands beyond its roots in licensed sports merchandise. CEO Michael Rubin is pushing the business into areas, such as sports betting and media, and has been plucking up talent to lead the new initiatives.
Omar Wilkes, the former head of basketball at Rich Paul’s talent agency Klutch Sports Group, recently came aboard as Fanatics’s head of athlete relations to build relationships with athletes, celebrities, agents and leagues. Earlier this month, the company added former Snap Inc. executive Nick Bell to run Fanatics Live, a new division focused on livestreaming commerce for memorabilia.
Within the collectibles unit, management is still looking for a chief commercial officer. Fanatics is also filling open roles in areas such as e-commerce, technology, finance and legal.
Collectibles have drawn greater attention since Fanatics snagged the rights to make trading-cards across several sports leagues and acquired Topps Co. in a $500 million deal last year.
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