2022 Topps Industry Conference Key Takeaways

by | Mar 1, 2022 | Business News, Events, GTS, Hobby News, Manufacturers, Topps

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2022 Topps Industry Conference Key Takeaways – The annual conference returned after a one-year hiatus. The event focused on what the company has planned for the future and also featured keynote speakers. With the recent acquisition of the company by Fanatics, Josh Luber, the Co-Founder and Chief Vision Officer for Fanatics Collectibles was featured prominently at the conference.

Understandably, the assembled gathering of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, breakers, distributors and other industry personnel, were hoping to receive feedback on the planned direction of The Topps Company. Here is a rundown of some of the key takeaways as it pertains to the overall business, product development and other highlights.

The following is a paraphrased listing of bullet points taken by a GTS representative at the conference.

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2022 Topps Industry Conference Key Takeaways – Day One

Fanatics Acquisition of The Topps Company – Presented by David Leiner, Topps Vice President/General Manager Global Sports & Entertainment and Josh Luber, Fanatics Collectibles Co-Founder and Chief Vision Officer 

  • Fanatics’ acquisition of Topps “will help accelerate their plans into the trading card space” – Luber
  • Topps says they want to find out who hobby shop and breaker customers are so they can find ways to support bringing new collectors into shops and the hobby
  • Fanatics and Topps launching an “Enhanced hobby store program” coming in next 30-90 days
  • With regards to acquiring new Consumers and addressing supply vs.demand issues, the goal is to get as much product into the market in a RESPONSIBLE manner – “we are tired of the peaks and valleys and volatility that have been part of our business”. Marketing and technology seen as the methods for smoothing that for hobby businesses.
  • “This only works as an industry and a partnership for all of us if it’s built on transparency.” – Luber
  • “Trading cards are the largest part of the business” for Fanatics – Luber
  • Fanatics has “90 Million Sports Fans” – Luber goes on to discuss how integrated sports betting is to live sports. “We are absolutely going to use that same infrastructure [real time betting-style] to sell Luka cards in that moment.” – Luber
  • “The end-to-end consumer experience requires us to make sure it works. That doesn’t mean we’ll do it [all], but we need to all work together and we are responsible for that happening as the ones at the start of that process.” – Luber
  • “We want to bring new people into the hobby, and doing that today at some of the price points is hard.” – Leiner
  • “Not over-producing has been in every conversation we’ve had.” and it’s about trying to strike that balance of accessibility and supply/demand. – Luber
  • “We want as many hobby shops as the market will bear; …the market will decide how many hobby shops exist.” – Luber
  • “I would guarantee that every segment of the industry that exists today will continue.”  On trading card-to-consumer channels & the phrase “cutting out the middleman”. – Luber
  • On adjustments Fanatics plans to make using technology and data, “You can’t just change one price at Target and say ‘that’s it, that did it.” – you have to take a holistic approach to the whole process.  – Luber
  • Luber when directly asked if non-direct shops will be able to buy directly from Fanatics/Topps in the (near) future: “…maybe?” Goes on to say “we haven’t gotten that far yet.”
  • “We all benefit from better understanding of the consumer data.” – Leiner. Goes on to say data for analytics purposes has been sorely lacking and now is the time to change that, from Topps through to hobby shops.

League Licensors – Presented by representatives of MLB, MLBPA, Overtime Elite (OTE), Formula 1, MLS

Basketball 🏀

  • Overtime Elite basketball cards will have the “Rookie Card” logo, “as the player’s first professional cards”.
  • Reality competition show “Card Stars” coming from OTE, with top artists and designers competing to see who’s card gets made! Access to players means organic promotion from the athletes and the content platform OverTime has built.

Soccer ⚽

  • Domestic growth of the MLS market has been substantial and continues to trend upward

Formula 1 🏎

  • Netflix documentary, “Drive to Survive” brought the international popularity of Formula 1 racing to the domestic market in the United States
  • Domestic viewership and social media engagement has increased to the highest levels ever recorded
  • Plans for overall F1 expansion and marketing – traveling exhibits worldwide in 2023; Sim Centers launching in London in Q4 2022 and expanding to other cities in 2023.
  • F1 marketing and licensing previewing 2022 “storylines” – Teammate Rivalries, Max vs Lewis Round 2, etc.

Baseball ⚾

  • “From the league side, we are really going to integrate trading cards into the league.” – Michael Posner MLB
  • Mentions specifically social media giveaways, prizes in the legal online gambling platforms, experiences/events
  • “At the PA, one of the things that was fascinating about what Fanatics brought to us is the idea that this is just the base of the mountain.” – MLBPA Director Zvee Geffen on the marketing and outreach possibilities still ahead for baseball cards
  • “Player Engagement in the hobby is at an all time high” – Geffen

2022 Topps Industry Conference Key Takeaways – Day Two

Product Development – Presented by several team members of the product development team including Clay Luraschi, Vice President of Product Development, Brand Manger, Jeremy Fullerton and others

Baseball ⚾

  • Topps mentioning depth in this RC Class, with a tease for perhaps CJ Abrams, Bobby Witt Jr showing up in S2
  • New for 2022:
    • Pristine Baseball
    • Stadium Club Member’s Only Derek Jeter – 14 autos, Exclusive Meet-and-Greet – Yankees Stadium packaging
    • Cosmic Chrome Baseball – galactic themed Chrome designs “parallel chase”
    • Dynasty MiLB
    • Gilded Collection – Transcendent “Lite”

Basketball 🏀

  • The highly anticipated return of Topps Chrome Basketball will coincide with OTE release.
  • Topps OTE Inception Basketball coming Q4 2022
  • Topps Inception Overtime Elite will include ball, net, and shoe relics
  • 2022 Topps National Basketball League (NBL) & Topps Chrome McDonald’s All American Game
  • McDonald’s All American Game will feature both men’s and women’s players

Bowman University – Name, Image Likeness (NIL) 🏈🏀

  • Bowman University – NIL based products for Football and Basketball, will feature “1st Bowman” designation
    • Football – Bryce Young, Kenny Pickett, Spencer Rattler etc
    • Basketball – Shaedon Sharpe, Chet Holmgren, Keegan Murray etc

Tennis 🎾

  • 2021 Topps Chrome Tennis with rookie cards of Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu

Soccer ⚽

  • Bowman Chrome Under 21 Championship – Prospect Autographs
  • Topps Champions League Flagship
  • Merlin UEFA Nations League
  • Chrome UEFA Women’s Champions League
  • Topps Chrome Nations League
  • Topps Chrome Scottish Premier Football League – Legend and Rookie Autographs

Formula 1 🏎

  • Topps Flagship
  • Topps Chrome
  • Topps Chrome Sappire Edition
  • Dynasty

Star Wars ✨

  • Notable NEW signers include:
    • Natalie Portman
    • Rosario Dawson
    • Emilia Clarke
    • Mercedes Varnado, A.K.A., Sasha Banks
    • Amy Sedaris

Topps Project 💯

  • Smaller scale project
  • Planned changes to print runs

Marketing – Presented by Corey Plunkett, Marketing Brand Manager – North America Sports & Entertainment

  • Activations to include, but not limited to the following key dates:
    • OTE Playoff Competition – March 8th, 9th, 11th
    • MLB Opening Day – March 31st or TBD
    • F1 Grand Prix – May 9th (Miami), October 23rd (Austin)
    • Bundesliga Finish – May 14th
    • UEFA Champions League Finals – May 28th
    • MLB All-Star Game – July 19th
    • International Trading Card Day – August 6th
      • Expanding National Baseball Card Day to include all Topps properties. Expanding to U.K., Germany and Japan
    • MLS Finals – November 5th
    • Other notable dates/timelines
      • Father’s Day
      • Q4 Holidays
      • World Cup
  • On-site Topps activations at sporting events will include the chance to share your exciting stories about collecting
  • New Topps Marketing campaign – “Long Live the Moment” – designed to cross all verticals.

Q & A

Question & Answer Session – Presented by David Leiner, Josh Luber, Clay Luraschi and Kevin O’Neil, Retail Account Manager

  • What is going to stand out to be part of the Topps hobby shop program? Leiner: “we really want to understand the end consumers, understand the data” – (Sounds like data tracking and metrics are key, so Topps can make the right products at the right demand level.)
  • Redemptions: “there is no question that is brought up in every discussion with every partner at every level” -Luber, on Topps/Fanatics stressing the importance to their partners also about fulfilling on autos.
  • Issue with redemption scratch offs: Leiner: “yeah, they’re horrible. We’re gonna fix that. I’ve had to call into our customer service team. It’s unacceptable and we’re gonna fix that.”
  • Topps execs reiterating junk wax era printing was likely “10x what it is today”.
  • Customer Service Rep for Topps Hobby Shops: O’Neil: “we are now looking to add staff and I think you will see something in the near future.”
  • Support systems for breakers in Topps/Fanatics plans: O’Neil: “Breakers are important. We are talking about different programs” – not just hobby shop program, also breaker program. Luber: “we believe every channel is important.” Also says demand shows we need 10x the breakers.
  • Production: Topps continuing to use Italian factory for printing products, says they are aware of early issues with Chrome F1, and a few soccer products. Have made changes and worked with Factory to understand trading card specs and QC expectations.
  • Do you see a future where hobby shops will all be franchised to reduce friction and competition? Luber: “That is not something we are actively talking about right now… there’s a vision around the partnership model; we need data.”
  • Sustainability: Leiner: “[Fanatics] have an entire steering committee team across the globe working on our carbon footprint, recyclables… many of the cards we make today come from recycled materials…” adds Topps partners are reducing glues & creating permanent retail fixtures.
  • Stadium / game activations: Luber: “1,000%. One of the really important things about having the leagues and the PAs as our equity partners… you should see more of that absolutely.”
  • Consumer education: Luber: “we also have to be better at educating everybody that they’re not always going to get the hit.” Educated consumers are better consumers. “It’s on us to educate everybody.” Luber: “in order to bring more customers in, we need better technology, we all do.”
  • About Data and if Fanatics just wants it, or it will be shared back to shop owners: Luber: “Target and Kelloggs share every bit of data they each have about every product. We believe data should be shared back and forth the same way.”
  • Bots: “Bowman Draft Sapphire we cancelled 80% of orders; constantly reviewing orders & reverse engineering.”
  • Plans to expand services like Montgomery Club? Leiner: “yes, we definitely want to expand those types of services, continue things like Montgomery Club.”
  • 2021 Bowman Heritage: Luraschi: “as you may or may not know, we have apx 13 products from 2021 that have not released yet, due to supply chain. They are on the docket but still tbd.”

Fore more details about the 2022 Topps Industry Conference be sure to tune into Go GTS Live – The Hobby’s Web Show, this coming Thursday, March 3rd at 9pm EST/6pm PST.

2022 Topps Industry Conference Key Takeaways
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