Panini to launch Kid-E-Cats stickers and trading cards across the UK and Europe

The popular pre-school animated series, Kid-E-Cats is making its way to the collectables space thanks to a new pan-European partnership between the brand’s owner CTC Media and the stickers and trading cards specialist, Panini.

The partnership, facilitated by APC Kids, will cover the UK and Ireland, Benelux, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, the Nordics, Greece, CEE, and Turkey. Across each of the territories, Panini will produce stickers, trading cards, and photocard collectables for the series.

Additionally, in Germany, Spain, and Italy, Panini will create sticker books and magazines, as well as publish a series of children’s books across Spain and Germany.

Lionel Marty, managing director of APC Kids, said: “We are delighted to welcome Panini on board for Kid-E-Cats and are confident in the expertise they will bring to the partnership as we strengthen and support our merchandise offering for the series as it continues to grow in popularity worldwide.”

Lluís Torrent Suñé, managing director of Panini Espana, added: “We have a long history of creating engaging content for kids all over the world and with harnessing the synergies that exist with APC Kids and CTC Media, we are excited to bring the Kid-E-Cats Collectible products to the marketplace.

“We feel privileged to be selected to work on such a cute and funny television series and look forward to working alongside APC Kids to create a complete program of Publishing products in selected countries such as Spain.”

Kid-E-Cats follows the adventures of three kittens, Cookie, Pudding, and Candy, who are always ready to jump into action with enthusiasm and energy. Their imaginations make them capable of some absurd problem-solving suggestions, while through life’s lessons they learn to look before they leap.

A third season is now ready to broadcast, while series one and two are currently available on Nick Jr internationally in over 170 territories following a partnership between APC Kids and Nickelodeon International that was signed in 2017. A further ten special episodes will be broadcast soon.

Ksenia Gordienko, director of animation, CТС media, said: “We have a very successful partnership with Panini in Russia on our Kid-E-Cats brand and we truly hope that this success will be scaled in other European territories. Growing the brand across Europe together with such respected partner like Panini is a great pleasure and honour for us.”

Panini launches its re-branded Official Premier League Adrenalyn XL Trading Card collection

The trading card and collectable stickers specialist, Panini has launched a completely re-branded and refreshed Adrenalyn XL trading card collection featuring all of the Premier League’s top talent. The new-look Official Premier League Adrenalyn XL Trading Card range follows the recent success of Panini’s first Premier League sticker collection, Football 2020.

Premier League Adrenalyn XL 2020/21 is the only trading card collection to include all 20 Premier League clubs, and is billed as the ‘must-have collection for football fans and collectors alike.’ It features 468 trading cards, as well as 30 limited edition cards across a new-look range of SKUs including multipacks, pocket and classic tins, and a Countdown Calendar.

The collection will hit shelves in the UK and Republic of Ireland from Thursday, August 20th.

Fans can kickstart their collection with a Starter Pack, which includes a high-quality collector’s binder, two-player gameboard and poster, 18 trading cards, an exhaustive magazine game guide plus two guaranteed Limited Edition cards. Starter Packs are priced at £5.99 and packets, which include six trading cards and one QR code leaflet, are £1.00 each.

A multi-channel marketing campaign is lined up, including extending cross-promotional activations with fellow Premier
League partners and delivering a heavyweight TV, radio, VOD and digital campaign. The launch will be supported by the best
football influencers in the category and a new sampling mechanic in place with the UK’s top-selling newspaper.

Panini has also forged new football magazine cover mount partnerships which, alongside Panini’s own football magazine Strike-It!, will facilitate the sampling of millions of packets to football-loving kids across the British Isles.

Mike Riddell, managing director of Panini UK, said: “Panini is taking Premier League trading cards to a new level for the 2020/21 season. Premier League Adrenalyn XL™ 2020/21 is a dynamic new collection which will be refreshed as new players transfer into the world’s most exciting league.”

Will Brass, commercial director, Premier League, added: “We’re excited to kick off our second season with Panini. The new-look Adrenalyn XL™ trading cards are a great way to get the Premier League into the hands of fans across the UK and Republic of Ireland.”

Chris Clover, head of marketing, Sport at Panini UK, concluded: “I cannot wait for collectors to get their hands on these new cards. The design team at Panini UK have created something really special for all Premier League fans to enjoy, switching up and improving every element from last season. There really will be no mistaking which trading card collection for the 2020/21 season is officially Premier League.”

Panini embarks on new licensing programme in Brazil with Vertical Licensing

The global stickers and trading cards company, Panini has made its latest move to strengthen its presence in Brazil with the appointment of Vertical Licensing. The new agreement will allow Vertical Licensing to license out the Panini assets across the region as it looks for new business opportunities.

Panini has become synonymous with collectables, stickers, and trading cards and has carried a reputation in the field across generations and into the digital age. The heritage and nostalgia of the brand has lent itself to collaborations with the likes of Adidas, Puma, 55DL and Mattel.

Meanwhile, Vertical Licensing is a Brazilian licensing agency based in São Paulo. It currently works with clients such as PlayStation, IMPS, Mercis, Rainbow, Epic Rights and King Features.

Brazil represents one of Panini’s key territories internationally, where the brand is hugely popular and scores a widespread awareness, which the company is now willing to extend into a strategized consumer products program.

“It is an exciting brand extension challenge. We are extremely proud to have been appointed to represent Panini, a highly recognized and respected brand that connects with two of the greatest passions of Brazilians: football and stickers,” said Alexandre Volpi, CEO of Vertical Licensing.

“Our kick-off will be in the second half of this year to start building a program that should hit the shelves in 2021, when Panini will celebrate its 60th anniversary.”

José Martins, president and CEO at Panini Brazil Ltd. commented: “Panini has been active in Brazil since 1990 offering a wide range of products in the collectible and publishing segments targeted to kids and teens. We are looking forward to working closely with Vertical Licensing team to ensure Panini Brand will enjoy the same success it has had in Europe and other parts of the World.”

Tony Verdini, senior manager, business development and partnerships at Panini, added: “We are pleased to team up with Vertical Licensing in Brazil, where Panini’s awareness is enormous and has been growing bigger and bigger over the years.

“We have appointed Vertical to grow brand extension opportunities in the territory as we do believe they are the ideal partner to achieve this goal through a sustainable business plan. We look forward to this cooperation and a wide and deep range of cool licensed products.”

 

Panini embarks on new licensing programme in Brazil with Vertical Licensing

The global stickers and trading cards company, Panini has made its latest move to strengthen its presence in Brazil with the appointment of Vertical Licensing. The new agreement will allow Vertical Licensing to license out the Panini assets across the region as it looks for new business opportunities.

Panini has become synonymous with collectables, stickers, and trading cards and has carried a reputation in the field across generations and into the digital age. The heritage and nostalgia of the brand has lent itself to collaborations with the likes of Adidas, Puma, 55DL and Mattel.

Meanwhile, Vertical Licensing is a Brazilian licensing agency based in São Paulo. It currently works with clients such as PlayStation, IMPS, Mercis, Rainbow, Epic Rights and King Features.

Brazil represents one of Panini’s key territories internationally, where the brand is hugely popular and scores a widespread awareness, which the company is now willing to extend into a strategized consumer products program.

“It is an exciting brand extension challenge. We are extremely proud to have been appointed to represent Panini, a highly recognized and respected brand that connects with two of the greatest passions of Brazilians: football and stickers,” said Alexandre Volpi, CEO of Vertical Licensing.

“Our kick-off will be in the second half of this year to start building a program that should hit the shelves in 2021, when Panini will celebrate its 60th anniversary.”

José Martins, president and CEO at Panini Brazil Ltd. commented: “Panini has been active in Brazil since 1990 offering a wide range of products in the collectible and publishing segments targeted to kids and teens. We are looking forward to working closely with Vertical Licensing team to ensure Panini Brand will enjoy the same success it has had in Europe and other parts of the World.”

Tony Verdini, senior manager, business development and partnerships at Panini, added: “We are pleased to team up with Vertical Licensing in Brazil, where Panini’s awareness is enormous and has been growing bigger and bigger over the years.

“We have appointed Vertical to grow brand extension opportunities in the territory as we do believe they are the ideal partner to achieve this goal through a sustainable business plan. We look forward to this cooperation and a wide and deep range of cool licensed products.”

 

Panini UK: “We had large numbers of requests from UK Tour de France fans, so we listened”

Panini UK will be working with Tour de France organisers this year with campaigns running across its social media platforms to engage the cycling community in its 2020 Tour de France stickers and cards collection. Its UK launch arrives in direct response to a ‘large number of requests’ from UK fans.

The new launch – scheduled for this August 6th – will mark the first time that Panini UK and Eire has overseen its own Tour de France collection. The new stickers and cards collection arrives on UK shores following a surge in the number of requests from UK Tour fans when the collection launched to the international market for last year’s event.

The 2020 Tour de France – while moved back to a start date of August 29th this year – is one of the few sporting events not to be cancelled this year owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

Chris Clover, head of marketing, sport, at Panini UK, told Licensing.biz: “Panini UK and Eire are really excited to be launching our first Tour de France collection this year. We have received a large number of requests from UK Tour fans, asking us to bring the collection to our shores, and we have listened.

“As a global leader in sports collectables, Panini understands the huge passion and following that the Tour has this side of the channel, and we can’t wait to let collectors get their hands on the new album.”

Panini launched its first international partnership with the Tour de France last year. The 2020 event will be the first time Panini UK brings the collectables collection to the UK.

“Last year was the first that Panini launched an official Grand Tour collection and we are incredibly proud to have been entrusted with creating a collection for such a historical event, which means so much to cycling fans all over the World,” said Clover.

“We will be ensuring the collection has a promotional platform designed to get albums to all the fans that we know are keen to start collecting and we will be working closely with the Tour organisers across our social media to engage the cycling community.”

Panini to launch 2020 Tour de France sticker and card collection this summer

Panini is launching an exclusive 2020 Tour de France sticker and trading card collection this summer, with the range hitting shelves and Panini’s online store from August 6th this year.

The new collection features a 64 page album full of information about the teams and competitors taking part in the summer event. As one of the few sporting events not to have been wholly cancelled this summer but postponed until August 29th, Panini has expressed its excitement over the launch of the range.

The stickers and cards feature bikes, shirts and key locations for the race. There are 384 stickers to collect, including 32 special stickers. Plus, there are 44 cards for collectors to keep a look out for, which can be kept in a specially-designed card holder.

To support the launch of the exclusive 2020 Tour de France Stickers and Cards Official Collection, there will be free album sampling with WHSmith and a social media campaign across Panini’s social channels. Panini will also be working closely with the organisers of the Tour de France to engage with the passionate cycling community across the UK and Eire.