“Be where your customers are and listen.” – Tracy Hackler
Note: This interview is a little over an hour long and would make excellent listening material for long car rides.
In this episode, I sit down with Tracy Hackler: Hobby Marketing Manager, Panini America. Join us as we talk about marketing, the subtle caveats of social media, why the customer is the most important part of doing business, the significant benefits of building relationships, the popularity of FIFA World Cup Soccer Stickers, the transition from Donruss to Panini, kids and the hobby, what Tracy collects, and a whole lot more. Links to his places are listed below:
- LinkedIn: /in/tracy-hackler-70b8112
- Twitter: @TracyHackler
- Panini America Blog: blog.paniniamerica.net
To see what’s currently on eBay from Panini, click here.
Excellent interview, Patrick! I think Donruss baseball 2017 is a refreshing product. To relate this to our previous conversation, Donruss 2017 seems to have pulled off the unimaginable, in that they actually have valuable insert cards the don’t rely on relics, patches or autos. I just saw this product within the past week and was blown away. They have successfully utilized highly valued refractors, caricatures, and traditional insert cards for their product. Incredible job by Panini. I also love that they Contain dominators and elite. The real practicality in this product is that they are still using relics and autos, along with a pseudo-vintage designed base set, so this set appeals to the vintage collector, the junk era and 90s collector, and the modern collector. Another thing that I like about this product is that they are using old designs for relic cards. These cards are gorgeous! If you haven’t checked it out already, take a look at the Griffey relic with the old design from 1983. Panini hit it out of the park on this release. Topps actually did a good job bringing back more traditional inserts this year also, but I think donruss may done an even better job. Kudos.
Thanks, Ben. Those are some nice thoughts on 2017 Donruss. I, too, really enjoy the modern feel with a classic design incorporation. It’s good to see emphasis being placed more on design instead of relics and autos.