Mint Musings: Engaging Younger Collectors Into the Hobby – A few weeks ago, I wrote about the responsibility of the current generation of the hobby in terms of cultivating the next age of collectors. With that in mind, I decided to probe further into this by reaching out to the trading card manufacturers. Over the next few weeks, they’ll be discussing their viewpoints on the topic and what their companies are doing in order to help encourage younger people to collect. This week, Upper Deck’s Chris Carlin shared his views on the matter. The following interview was conducted via email.
KS: What do you feel is the state of the hobby in engagement of younger children and collectors?
CC: There certainly continue to be kids who enjoy the hobby and who are exposed to it by their family, however, there remains a large group of kids who just haven’t been exposed to the category yet despite a variety of attempts by manufacturers and card shops in particular.
KS: Overall, how much of a focus does your company place on engaging children in the hobby?
CC: It is a critical aspect of every one of our events. It was the rationale behind starting programs like Heroic 
Inspirations and one of the reasons why we do so much philanthropy with organizations like Defending the Blue line. We have our Volunteer Alliance involved in helping us develop the next generation of collectors. We have created UD Educates teacher kits to help expose kids to the hobby in the classroom and are launching “How To Collect” kits for this season. Additionally, we are the only company that holds a holiday where fans of all ages can get free NHL packs with National Hockey Card Day thanks to the support of our partner shops. And based on the product, kid-focused content can be key to the success of a product.
KS: How important does your company feel it is to get younger people interested in the hobby in order to cultivate that next generation of collectors?
CC: We believe it is absolutely critical to develop the next generation of collectors.
KS: What does your company feel is the best way to engage children and get them interested in trading cards?
CC: Exposure to the product is the best way, especially by showing it for what it is, a family friendly hobby that everyone can participate in.
KS: What specific programs have you enacted in order to better engage children and younger collectors?
CC: Sampling activations at shows, games and events is great. Holding promotions like All-Star Moms and All-Star Dads where we can produce cards of their kids this season was a lot of fun. And again, programs like National Hockey Card Day, UD Educates and our “How To Collect” kits are critical to engaging that demographic.
KS: Are there any future programs your company has in the works to try and further achieve this goal?
CC: One of the biggest is releasing in 2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs. Young kids don’t care as much about baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf or other sports stars, but they do LOVE dinosaurs. We see this product as an evergreen opportunity to expose kids to the fun of collecting cards, while also giving parents a fun activity to experience with their kids together. I know that I will be purchasing this product to share with my two young boys and they’ve been more than a little excited about the samples they have seen. It is the perfect way to introduce the hobby to kids.
KS: Given the current prevalence of mobile technology in today’s world, especially among youth, how is your company using technology in order to better reach younger collectors and even collectors in general?
CC: You have to be a little careful with regard to apps in terms of ages, but we are active on the key social media 
platforms youth are using like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to name a few.
KS: One of the concerns about the hobby today is that it’s too expensive for children to actively engage in it. How do you respond to that?
CC: Prices on printed materials like puzzles, board games, greeting cards, etc. has risen sharply over the last ten years in particular. We still offer pack products for 99 cents and $1.59 respectively. We do not really make money on those products, but they are critical to developing the category and having something for everyone.
KS: How does the bigger presence of retail stores vs. hobby stores impact engaging younger collectors into the hobby?
CC: Retail is a key channel to engage youth for sure, but we need to continue to look at new retail distribution in non-traditional venues. This season Upper Deck was able to launch a major cross-marketing promotion with Tim Horton’s throughout thousands of retail locations across Canada that offered an entry level pack at $1-$1.99 which elevated the awareness for the category like we haven’t seen in ages. It has been an incredible promotion and we continue to look at brand integration opportunities where we can expose new fans, of all ages, to the category.
KS: In the comic book world, there is a National Comic Day. Could you ever foresee a scenario in teaming up with the other trading card manufacturers to create a united pack for a type of national trading card day?
CC: Due to licensing restrictions, that can’t really happen, but we will continue to run our National Hockey Card Day program throughout North America taking place on February 6, 2016!
KS: You have National Hockey Card Day, which offers collectors packs of hockey trading cards across the United
States and Canada, as incentives to visiting hobby shops. What kind of reception have you seen with that for younger collectors?
CC: The response is incredible. We are now hearing from NHL rookies who have shared with us they got into collecting cards from that promotion. It’s really amazing to see the affect that promotion has played in getting new collectors involved in the hobby.
KS: More recently, you’ve partnered with Tim Horton’s to provide a lower-cost pack of hockey cards. How much did you have younger collectors in mind when starting that up?
CC: It was one of the major reasons for developing this program. It is almost like a Trojan horse approach to marketing as people don’t expect to hear about hockey cards when they go into Tim Horton’s, but our brands align so closely with regard to hockey, people are not surprised our product is available there. It’s the perfect partnership.
KS: Do you have any plans to bring the Tim Horton’s promotion to the United States?
CC: That is up to Tim Horton’s. We’ve certainly seen a lot of fans hoping they would expand the program in the future, but that decision is ultimately up to them.
KS: Your company has also dabbled in Marvel trading cards and some other non-traditional trading cards like Animal Kingdom inserts in its trading card releases. How much success have you seen among those?
CC: Our entire Entertainment division is another critical mechanism designed to engage kids. We are targeting kids with completely different likes and hobbies with our games and entertainment products, but these licenses are a tremendous way to reach the kid market.
KS: Do you foresee expanding those kinds of product lines in order to engage more children into the trading card hobby?
CC: Our gaming and entertainment division is booming right now. Yes, we are absolutely expanding our offerings and focus with regard to those product lines.
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan as the producer of ESPN’s Mint Condition has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on the hobby in Mint Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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