Panini America Announces Industry’s First Consumer Rewards Program at Summit
Every other category has them, so isn’t it about time that the card collecting community has its own rewards program, too? Today, Panini America, the world’s largest sports and entertainment collectibles company, announced just that. During the company’s annual corporate address at the 2014 Industry Summit in Las Vegas, Panini America CEO Mark Warsop offered the first glimpses of the Panini Rewards Program, the result of a research and development program the company began nearly two years ago.
As Panini America officials began to develop the Panini Rewards Platform, they focused their efforts on developing a system designed to deliver more value to collectors by giving them the ability to choose replacements and other items through an established point value system tied to Panini Rewards. The Panini Rewards Platform will give collectors the ability to earn points by scanning randomly inserted Rewards cards with their mobile devices in all Panini America products.
Once the Panini Rewards Program launches in late-May with the release of 2014 Score Football, collectors will have the chance to use their points immediately for any available single cards, or accumulate points to earn higher-value cards, other collectibles and unique Panini experiences. The Panini Rewards points never expire and collectors will be able to view every available Panini Rewards card immediately using the Panini Rewards smart phone app or on the Panini Rewards Platform website.
The Panini Rewards Program will debut in the late-May release of 2014 Score Football and will follow in future Panini America MLBPA, NBA and NFL products.
“The Panini Rewards Program is a truly revolutionary development for the entire trading card industry and will offer us the chance to effectively eliminate and further reduce redemption cards from our products, replacing them with Panini Rewards Points that collectors can use to acquire any available card immediately,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. “This program has been in development for nearly two years and we are excited to finally share it with collectors.”
Other highlights of the program, which was previewed during the 2014 Industry Summit, include:
- Upon a product’s launch, collectors will have immediate access to Panini America’s available single-card inventory directly from their mobile devices.
- The ability for collectors to choose their own replacements from the Panini Rewards Platform.
- The Panini Rewards Platform will be accessible via both web- and app-based applications for iOS and Android devices.
- Panini America officials worked with Kodak to implement a high-resolution image-capture station designed to recreate the experience for collectors to view memorabilia and autograph cards for every available card on the Panini Rewards Platform.
- Panini America also worked with Kodak to capture high-quality images of Panini America trading cards available for collectors to develop a mobile app and website designed to enhance collectors’ customer rewards experience.
- Future Rewards Platform enhancements will give collectors the ability to self-authenticate their trading cards to ensure authenticity and eliminate issues related to potential counterfeit trading cards on the secondary market.
The app will be available for download just prior to the release of 2014 Score Football. Stay tuned to The Knight’s Lance for additional information.
Trackbacks
- Panini America Provides “Short” Glimpse at 2013-14 Immaculate Basketball (Gallery) | The Official Panini America Blog
- Commanding Performance: Panini America Steals Show at 2014 Industry Summit | The Official Panini America Blog
- Game-Changing Panini Rewards Program to Launch with Release of 2014 Score Football | The Official Panini America Blog
- FAQ: Panini America Addresses Most-Asked Questions on the Panini Rewards Program | The Official Panini America Blog
The Knight's Lance 
WOW!! I like the concept wholeheartedly, it’ll be up to how easy it is to use once it launches to ultimately judge it’s quality. Hard to beleive based on how cold it’s been here iin the East, but a 2014 football release gets me all excited for the upcoming football card season!!
Some key points to clarify with today’s announcement as we hear feedback that is very positive. We understand there are questions so let’s tackle some of them:
1. Today was overview of the Panini Rewards Platform that was 2yrs in the making.
2. We are still processing & will continue to work through existing redemptions now & when PaniniRewards goes live and our goal as always has been to eliminate the backlog and move forward.
3. Marquee players are key to all products and meant to be in all products – that won’t ever change & the goal is always to be live.
4. Panini Rewards is about giving collectors the choice rather than waiting on guys they don’t care about they can now focus on getting their favorite players and teams via the Panini Rewards platform.
5. We will plan to provide more detailed information and FAQs as we near the launch. Follow #PaniniRewards to get the latest information.
More to come!
So, will those of us without a smart phone be out of luck on this rewards program?
No sir. There will be a dedicated website as well.
I love this idea, and applause Panini for coming up with it as it is very frustrating to have to wait 4 months for a replacement on a redemption.
I hope my redemptions get filled soon.This new program looks good on ” paper “.Let’s hope to works out.
Yes 2014 score football!!! This is my favorite time of the card year can’t wait to see the design!!
I have some concerns but thank you to Panini for being so innovative. Hopefully the transition is gradual and you allow us the option of waiting on redemptions we already have in the system.
Thanks for all the hard work looking forward to seeing this in action
Really great concept and I love the idea I really do, but a few questions if I may. Will these reward points take away from a live hit? Say a box with four hit cards may have a points reward card and three hits? And will these reward cards have a team assigned to them or correlated in a manner that teams with few hits get more rewards card distributed through product? if it was team based that certainly would help breakers just curious thanks
Stay tuned. We will have many more details as the program draws closer to launch.
Hi Tracy Hackler,
For those us with outstanding redemptions currently in our Panini account, will we receive points towards the “new program” and have a chance to obtain teams/players we like.
I will gladly go shopping for cards! Great idea.
It would be fantastic to know whether or not this is just for future products or will we be able to use our currently past due, outstanding redemptions towards this program? Thank you, Cynthia
I love the idea! I have one question, what well the prizes be? Well it be boxes or single cards?
Single cards, player experiences, Panini Authentic memorabilia and more.
Kudos to everyone at Panini America. This is a LEAP forward toward giving the customer the ultimate collecting experience. This helps add real value to every product. I’m excited. I can’t wait to see my customers react. Everyone will be buying and selling points.
Interesting… Will be nice to see how this plays out. Nice way to get rid of redemptions.
I’m confused. So what does this have to do with current and future redemptions?
Very cool! Cannot wait too see it in action.
Super Awesome sounding stuff Tracy, can’t wait to check this out!
Very interesting. Hopefully this is the game-changer you all seem to be hoping it is! Thank you for continuing to do whatever you think is necessary to satisfy us, the customers.
ok I think I understand this, I have only some question’s who determines the value of the card in storage, and the points needed to get the card(s). and from what I see this is also tied into redemption you get from packs. and the redemptions will have a value, again who determines the value of the card.
GREAT Idea Panini! I LOVE this idea! Can’t wait to start using the app and checking everything out! GREAT JOB on looking out for your customers and giving them another way to collect Panini Cards and being able to CHOOSE the card you want and or need. 5 Stars ***** !
This is gonna be LEGEND…wait for it……ARY…LEGENDARY!!:-) #SuperStoked Great move Panini! Very smart!.. Looking forward to it:-D
I never look a gift horse in the mouth. If you want give me some bonuses and help insure the legitimacy of more cards I am all for it. Panini alway seems to go that extra mile with its programs. I will be looking forward to the program.
There will always be pros and cons, but parts of this are VERY exciting.
For those us with outstanding redemptions, are we grandfathered in to the “new program” and have a chance to obtain teams/players we like. I will gladly go shopping for cards! Great idea
This is a huge game-changer and can be both positive and negative in many ways. My biggest positive is that, like many others, I collect certain players and teams more than I collect others or teams that I don’t like, and it’s a great opportunity to more easily trade in my Darington Hobson redemption for a Lakers player rookie auto (I waited over a year to trade it for a Darius Morris card, which is essentially equal value as both players aren’t that impressive). It would definitely be nice to get options like that available more easily/often.
However, this could have a big effect on mass breakers (people who do live breaks and end up getting rewards points and have to decide who gets them. I’m not a breaker, so it doesn’t affect me personally, and I’m sure breakers will find a simple solution (raffle it off or something like that).
My big concern is that certain players will ALWAYS be more sought after than others, and for that reason, it will be impossible to make everyone happy. If there are 100 available Kobe Bryant autos and 100 available Kevin Love autos, we know that there will be 10,000 people fighting for the 100 Kobe cards with maybe 500 people fighting for the Kevin Love cards. It’s just not proportional, and the top-tier players are exponentially more valuable (which I think is what will create the largest problem). Furthermore, there really is no good solution to this because if you make it such that you need a very high amount of rewards points to earn that Kobe card, it basically means that the richest collectors who buy cases of the cards will be able to get the best cards by mass-accumulating rewards instead of the average collector who wants his/her box to have the same odds of getting good hits. When I open a box, I want that same 1 in 100 chance of getting Kobe’s autograph regardless of whether I open 1 box or 100, but that person who opens 100 boxes now gets to use his money to his advantage and destroy the hopes of the average collector.
We will see how it works, but this is definitely very interesting news. I hope it works, but I think the system needs to be very well thought out first to make sure there is no major apparent reason for backlash.
This looks like it will be a great new option, any thing that will help reduce the time on redemption cards transition.
I’ve been looking forward to something like this in the hobby for quite some time. I’ll be very interested to see how this streamlines the redemption process and gets cards in the hands of collectors faster. Thanks Tracy!
As I read more and more about this program, I really cannot complain about what I am reading. So, instead of getting a redemption card for a specific low-level football rookie, or a minor star, I can now take the points instead and choose something that I value more (like a card from my favorite player/team/sport, etc). Or, I can save more of these type low-level point value cards up for a better card/player that I would really want.
Assuming the point value more or less accurately reflects the dollar value of what would’ve come in the pack (or the redemption), I think it is a great idea. How many of us have sent in redemptions of players we could really care less about over the years, only to wait a long time to get it and then be less than thrilled that we got it? How many of us have had other companies substitute a card of “equal value” 4-6-8 months later only to realize that the card they sent nowhere near actually replaced the original redemption’s value??
I’d rather have the option of swapping out the points for a card I would like. If the website is easy to use (sorry-not really as phone-tech savvy as I should be, maybe I’ll get my high schooler to help me with that), then more power to Panini!!
And if what I read on some beckett interviews is correct that maybe some of these point value cards would be “extras” to enhance the value of the pack/box, that’s also very cool.
Sounds good and can’t wait to see Score 2014 Football!!!!
L-O-V-E the idea, oddly – I have been suggesting this exact system for about three years now. I’m not claiming that my persistence and recommendations had something to do with this change, but it’s nice to know collectors are being heard and something, ANYTHING is being done to improve the redemption system in any way, shape, or form. Thank you – now, I may be able to begin opening Panini boxes once again. Thanks to Mr. Sharp and Ms. Ware for swapping some of my year+ old redemptions in the past month.
Well these points replace hits or well they just be a bonus?
This is a GAME CHANGER! Customers spoke and Panini America listens. Thanks for making this a better hobby.
Once again, when I say that you guys are the best, this is what I point at. Another step ahead of the hobby
For those us with outstanding redemptions, are we grandfathered in to the “new program” and have a chance to obtain teams/players we like. I will gladly go shopping for cards! Great idea