Chris Spadaccini has been tapped as chief marketing officer for The CW Network, where he will oversee the network’s broadcast and digital marketing divisions.
“It is very rare that any company gets to add someone of Chris Spadaccini’s stature to its team,” Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment for The CW, said in a statement. “When it comes to marketers who have built and defined legendary brands for decades and created passionate emotional attachment between content and audiences, Chris is a true pioneer and the best in the business. As the broadcast and digital landscape changes at a rapid pace, we are building a dream team with the excitement and experience needed to drive The CW forward. I just wish he could have brought ‘The White Lotus’ with him.”
An award-winning marketing veteran with more than two decades of experience building media, entertainment and lifestyle brands that consumers love, Spadaccini was a driving force behind building the iconic HBO brand. As CMO for WarnerMedia Entertainment, he was responsible for marketing a portfolio of category-leading brands including HBO, TBS, TNT, truTV and all aspects of brand and content marketing for HBO Max.
“There are exciting changes underway at The CW and I’m thrilled to be a part of the network’s evolution,” Spadaccini said. “I’m looking forward to creating innovative brand experiences that resonate with mass audiences and help accelerate the next phase of business growth.”
Spadaccini has served in various marketing positions throughout his 20-year tenure at HBO, including Head of Marketing, where he was responsible for overseeing brand strategy, creative advertising, media, consumer promotions, multicultural and digital platform marketing. Under his leadership, the HBO team built a reputation as the gold-standard in television marketing and helped propel the network to record-breaking results.
As a senior marketing executive for HBO and WarnerMedia, Spadaccini helped to advance the organization’s digital transformation to support a global, direct-to-consumer business. He launched award-winning campaigns for HBO’s culture-defining original programming like “Game of Thrones,” “The Sopranos,” “Entourage,” “The Wire,” “Euphoria” and “Succession.” Over the course of a decade, he led the marketing strategy for three streaming services — HBOGO, HBO NOW and HBO Max — all of which contributed to record revenue and subscriber growth.
Spadaccini most recently evolved the marketing function and driving growth at CAMP, an early-stage retail-entertainment company targeting young families. Prior to joining HBO, the executive worked in marketing at VH1 and in public relations at PMK/HBH.
