Need an NFL fix during the NBA and NHL post-season? Trading card company Panini America is jump-starting the 2013 NFL campaign with the unveiling of trading cards for the 40 rookies who attended a photo shoot and the related NFL Players Association Rookie Premiere conference held in Los Angeles earlier this month.
Although not quite as stellar as the rookie class of 2012 – which included Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Doug Martin and Alfred Morris – the class of 2013 does have a core nucleus of players who already have received national attention. They include Geno Smith (New York Jets), EJ Manuel (Buffalo Bills), Dion Jordan (Miami Dolphins), Tavon Austin (St. Louis Rams), Matt Barkley (Philadelphia Eagles) and Manti Te’o (San Diego Chargers), who this year garnered as much media for his nonexistent not-deceased girlfriend as for his on-field exploits.
The cards will be part of the company’s 2013 Prestige Football release this summer. Marketing support for Panini includes TV, print, Internet and social media destinations including Twitter and Facebook. Geno Smith is expected to be the face of rookie card packaging and marketing.
“You can have a strong sense about young players, but you can’t predict how a career will go and how much power they will have in the trading card marketplace,” said Jason Howarth, VP of marketing for Panini America. “This year’s rookie group may not have the star power of Andrew Luck, RG3 and Russell Wilson, but we are fortunate to have signed some good, young, talented players.”
Barry Janoff is director of sports media marketing initiatives for PromaxBDA. He also is the executive editor for NYSportsJournalism.com which covers national sports marketing, business and media news; and a contributing writer for Yahoo! and MediaPost.
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