Collectibles are a vital aspect of the Panini Group and sports trading cards and stickers are a significant focus of our product offerings.
Panini has been proud to represent most of the international soccer tournaments around the world including FIFA World Cup, Copa America and UEFA (Euro and Champions leagues).
International soccer leagues in most key markets are also a daily part of Panini sports activities, with local leagues and club collections serving as a mainstay of its global collectible business.
Over recent years Panini has established a pattern of success in driving its sports business to record levels through establishing mass consumer availability and hard-hitting marketing and promotional campaigns.
In 2006, Panini’s official and exclusive FIFA World Cup sticker and trading card program reached unprecedented levels and made it the most heavily promoted and most successful launch in collectible history. International sales figures made it the world’s biggest collectible ever.
At Euro 2008 the official and exclusive UEFA Panini sticker collection and trading card series, along with a trading card game series, became another historical marker for the group. Panini collections were sold in 75 countries around the world, making it a truly international publishing event. Panini gave potential collectors 30 million starter packs and supported the program with massive public relations, television and radio advertising, as well as plentiful retail point of sale. Additionally Panini joined forces with multiple promotional partners to further enhance the tournament and collectible experience. Some 38 countries ran McDonald’s Happy Meals and promotions and there were multi-territory promotions with Nestle cereals, Pepsi and seven other key promotional partners. Panini also ran a virtual online collection in partnership with Coke and MSN, which bought Panini collections to life through the electronic media and added to the physical experience of collecting offline.
Panini grew previous sales levels by 300 percent and won the acclaim of the trade and its promotional partners. UEFA licensed 4,500 products, but said that out of all of those just three were “Iconic.” Panini is proud to have been named one of them.
Panini is somewhat modest when it comes to stating volumes and values of individual collection sales, but it can be said that its total Euro 2008 performance for its collectibles, accomplished over a four-month selling period, would considerably overshadow the volumes sold of the total U.S. sports card market this year.
The entertainment industry is another aspect of Panini’s wide-ranging portfolio. Panini is a long-standing licensee for many of the world’s largest principal license holders. The Disney association alone goes back nearly four decades. In Europe, Panini has grown its collectible business with Disney by more than 100 percent in the past three years. Another successful partnership involves the global phenomenon that is Harry Potter, which has created record-breaking opportunities for Warner Bros. studio and Panini. The program has featured each of the movies and has maintained sales beyond expectations.
Panini undertakes more than 750 collection launches each year in more than 100 countries. Sticker album and trading card launches are the most common, but also include other collectible products such as PhotoCards and in-house brands such as STAKS and other fad collectibles.
The Panini Group was established almost 50 years ago in Modena, Italy and with its subsidiaries throughout Europe and Latin America, it is the world leader in the published collectibles sector. Panini is also the leading multinational publisher of comics, children’s magazines and manga in Europe and Latin America. The Panini Group, which approached $1 billion in sales in 2008, employs a staff of more than 700. Its newest addition, Panini America, Inc., is based in Arlington, Texas.