Panini America Brings Black Friday Shopping Frenzy to the Sports Card Industry With National Promotion

IRVING, Texas, Nov. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Panini America (www.paniniamerica.net), the world's largest sports and entertainment collectibles company, has created a special trading card set devoted to Black Friday that will be available in more than 230 independent retailers nationwide through a unique wrapper-redemption program beginning Friday. You can find the list of participating hobby retailers at: http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111121/DA10649)

The special set features cards of star players from the NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball Players Association as well as autographs from Super Bowl XLV MVP Aaron Rodgers, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, NHL No. 1 overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers and many more.

Panini America's Black Friday set includes 19 base cards, 13 Rookie Cards and more than 3,000 rare autograph and memorabilia cards, highlighted by unique trading cards embedded with pieces of end zone pylons and footballs that were used during the 2011 NFL Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLV, where the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to capture their fourth Super Bowl Championship and 13th NFL Championship.

The Black Friday cards will be available at participating retailers beginning Friday when consumers purchase selected Panini America trading card products. The cards will also be available with select purchases on the official Panini America online store at www.iCollectPanini.com.

"This is a truly unique program that will generate excitement and additional sales of our products in trading card shops across the country and get hobby shops involved in the nation's biggest shopping day," said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. "We've experienced tremendous success with these programs at trade shows for years. Now we're bringing it to our loyal brick-and-mortar stores and to our online store front.

"We've created considerable buzz already and we're looking forward to helping create record sales days for the more than 200 shops that are participating."

Panini America is the only company in the world that manufactures fully licensed trading cards and stickers for the NBA, NFL, NFL PLAYERS, NHL, NHLPA, MLBPA and FIFA World Cup. The company also owns exclusive entertainment licenses with Disney, Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson, and more than 600 global licenses with other sports and entertainment properties.

ABOUT PANINI:

The Panini Group, established almost 50 years ago in Modena, Italy, has subsidiaries throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States.  Panini is the world leader in officially licensed collectibles and is the most significant publisher of collectibles in the U.S., with official licenses for NBA, NFL, NHL, FIFA, Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. and other key properties from many other licensors. Panini has distribution channels in more than 100 countries and employs a staff of over 800. For more information visit us at www.paniniamerica.net, www.paninigroup.com or www.paniniamerica.wordpress.com. You can also follow Panini America on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and on YouTube.

Media Contact:  

Tracy Hackler, Panini America
817-983-0325
[email protected]

SOURCE Panini America