Donnie Cranfill noticed that as people became grandparents, their perspective changed – especially on social media.
“Their whole behavior began to change – nonstop pictures and videos of their grandkids,” said Cranfill, who himself became the grandfather of twins last December. The Spartanburg native realized that most grandparents are now tech-savvy, enjoying social media and online shopping, though in one area they haven’t changed: They love to spoil their grandkids.
To accommodate what he saw as an underserved market, he created Camp Nana Papa, a social media platform and e-commerce site targeting grandparents. Cranfill serves as chief vision officer, with fellow Spartanburg native Cameron Todd on board as COO. Since launching in July, the Facebook page is already seeing significant traction, and Cranfill and Todd hope to expand their social media presence, blog, proprietary products line and other capabilities in their quest to help grandparents and grandchildren make memories.
“It’s all about the activities they do together,” Cranfill said. “You never forget those times.”
What inspired you to create this company, and how did you come up with the unique name?
DC: I think for most human beings, we experience that grandparent/grandchild relationship and it’s one of our favorite parts of life. I had a friend who was always posting about Camp Nana Papa, and I thought it was really a camp. I loved the name. I asked him and he said it’s not a place at all – it’s a place in the heart or a state of being. I did some research and found it was an incredible group of folks overlooked in commerce and e-commerce. I knew this could be a robust economic model.
Did your research show that there were not many companies targeting grandparents online?
DC: There were a couple of companies doing very specific things like picture frames, but no comprehensive place where grandparents could communicate with each other, find a gift or find something special for when their grandkids are coming over.
CT: At first I thought, my grandparents are not online, but there is a changing demographic. The average age of first-time grandparents is 48 years old. It’s a very overlooked market. They are one of the fastest-growing segments on social media, and we already have more than 10,000 people on Facebook, sharing pictures and interacting, so we are hitting a need. Grandparents spend $52 billion a year on their grandchildren. It’s that dream of making their grandkids’ lives better.
What types of products and services are available on your site?
CT: It’s e-commerce and also providing a platform. People can share photos and stories with us on the site, so there is a community aspect. We have our proprietary products and also partner with some high quality, unique and sometimes hard-to-find vendors and manufacturers, so we’re a retailer for them.
DC: We want to vet good products. The average grandparent has seven grandchildren, with Christmas, birthdays, graduations. Our registry can help. It’s searchable by age, and we are working on some very unique items for activities like roasting marshmallows or catching fireflies.
Donnie, you wrote a book for sale on the site. How does it fit in with your mission?
DC: The book, “The Adventures of Camp Nana Papa,” explains a lot about the company – that Camp Nana Papa is not a physical place, but that there is magic in the heart of every grandchild. The book chronicles a boy and girl who spend the weekend with their grandparents. They do a lot of the things kids do with their grandparents – reading stories, baking cookies. We want to expand that – it’s a series. We want to show that our experiences with grandparents never end, so we hope it creates good family traditions.
How many employees do you have? Do you manage shipping and distribution from your Spartanburg headquarters?
CT: We’re small and growing. We have four full-time employees right now in addition to a team in Washington, D.C., that is handling the building of the website and search engine optimization. We do a lot of fulfillment right here. But brands like [toy manufacturers] Melissa & Doug fulfill for us in a drop-ship situation because we’re a startup. But those relationships might change as we expand our fulfillment center.
What are your goals for the company?
CT: We want to continue to grow. We have 6,155 already signed up to get our emailed newsletter with product ideas, activities and other information. We’re hoping to grow across social media, including Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter.
DC: We want to be the go-to brand to help with gifts, special occasions or anything related to grandparents. That’s our unique niche – reaching grandparents and families with the things they need. The end goal, through social media, e-commerce or any kind of commerce, is to help make grand memories.
