Latest / Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360 / #413: From Collectors to Community: How Upper Deck Is Driving Fan Engagement

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#413: From Collectors to Community: How Upper Deck Is Driving Fan Engagement · Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: You don't need a formal customer loyalty program to cultivate emotional and loyal fans.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Many brands can tap into the passion of their audience through their product offerings, as well as unique engagement and marketing opportunities.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Few industries do this better than sports, and few sports have as loyal of a fan base as hockey.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: The most dedicated fans are often collectors in some form.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Some prefer autographs, others prefer jerseys, and an increasing number are drawn to trading cards.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Today we're going to dive into Upper Deck's my MVP 2024 promotional campaign and explore how it fostered unique fan engagement through a comprehensive promotional offering.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Today we're joined by Paul Winn.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: He is the Senior Marketing Manager at Upper Deck.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you, paul, for taking the time to speak with us today.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I'm good, good.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: First off, can you give us a short introduction to Upper Deck and tell us about your role with the company?
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, upper Deck is a manufacturer of licensed trading cards and memorabilia.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I work on the sports sector of that and help oversee all of that.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: On the marketing side, we've been a company for over 30 years and have spokespeople that are like Michael Jordan, wayne Gretzky, some of the greats.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: My role at the company I help oversee all of the aspects of the sports sector that range from the trading cards to memorabilia.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: So any of those campaigns, initiatives, I help spearhead.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: What motivated Upper Deck to create the my MVP 2024 promotion and how does it align with your overall marketing and brand objectives?
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is actually our fifth season bringing this contest back to the fans.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: One of our biggest goals is always to have bring the game closer to fans the closest that we can and what better way is through trading cards.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: And fans make such a big part of what makes the sport so great.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So we wanted to bring a way to shine a light on their story, so they can present their stories, and for us to use our channels to kind of share what they can, what they're doing in their local communities.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: And how does the my MVP 2024 campaign enhance brand loyalty for the NHL and their teams while also driving results for Upper Deck?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're a longstanding.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: We have a longstanding relationship with the NHL.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: We're the exclusive licensed trading card producer for the NHL and through a contest like this we're not reaching only trading card collectors or that community, we're really reaching hockey fans.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: So in turn, by introducing them into this hobby, we're hoping that they become collectors themselves and introduce that to their family and friends, and so on and so forth.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Upper Deck does not have a formal customer loyalty program.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Yet what does customer loyalty mean to Upper Deck and to the industry?
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, customer loyalty really means a lot to Upper Deck.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: We really take pride in that.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: We're constantly trying to make our products the best that we can and a large part of that is actually listening to the collectors, the community, and hearing what they liked, what they don't like, what worked and didn't work in our products.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Especially when we attend trade shows, we see these collectors that come back year over year with friendly faces and smiles and stuff like that, opening our product and hearing that direct feedback.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: So those are great moments where the brand managers, us in marketing, can relate those things back to the team and kind of see what we can do to make it better.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: There seems to be a significant and growing competition within the card industry.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: What are some recent trends that you're seeing within the industry industry you know what are some recent trends that you're seeing within the industry?
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I mean within within the industry itself.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: We're seeing so much competition, right, but I would think competition is really great for us as a hobby as a whole because it just shows that things are evolving.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: And then even in trade shows and stuff like that I've seen this is the biggest type of experience that I've seen since my eight-year stint here.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Um, but with upper deck ourselves, we're always trying to innovate and show our creativity within the hobby.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Um, we're expanding and, with prop platforms called, uh, epac, evolution, collect forever new ways that people can actually collect beyond, just like physical trading cards in their hobby shop, um, so yeah, are nfts.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Uh, a thing now I know they work a little bit in the card industry is kind of the unique collectibles, the personalized unique collectibles that is still something that we're working within that space as well with our platform, evolution.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: we call them authentic digital collectibles.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: They're very similar to NFTs, where people can buy, there's a digital collection.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: What makes it kind of interesting for us is that within our ecosphere of platforms, people can trade physical trading cards on EPAC with those authentic digital collectibles on evolution and back and forth.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: So it's not just the digital to digital, it's like different things people can trade.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: And how does Upper Deck differ from some of the competitors in the industry?
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Topps or Score or Leaf.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: The way that we can differentiate is just by these types of programs ourselves.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: We're really focused on the amount of products that we create and the care that we're doing making sure that the quality consistently stays the same, making sure that we ensure that into people's hands Okay.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: And emotional loyalty.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Emotional connection to a brand is very important to most marketers today.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: How do you feel Upper Deck has, or do you have, an emotional connection with your customers, and how do you look at emotional loyalty?
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, emotional connection definitely is a thing for us here at Upper Deck.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, we have a great customer care team who reaches out to customers all the time, proactively, seeing how things have been going with them, reaching out and seeing how their collections are and vice versa.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: So there's a strong relationship there For us on the marketing side, we're constantly trying to grow the community, so building programs like this my MVP program has been really important for us.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: We've seen collectors or participants or fans re-enter into this competition multiple times because they see that's happening and they want to be part of it.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: So that kind of stuff is really exciting for the loyalty end.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: You talked a little bit about kind of the evolution and some things you're doing in the digital space and offering different opportunities for the collectors.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Where is the industry going forward?
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Where do you see the industry going forward?
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Fan-based offerings, maybe, partnerships, more experiential rewards for your collectors or maybe the high-end collectors?
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: I think with us I can speak for Upper Deck.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: We're constantly trying to pair ourselves with different licensors and continue our relationship with strong licenses with NHL and things like that, with partnerships that we're doing with NHL teams, for example, we're constantly trying to see how we can bring larger fan experiences to them.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: How can we bring our products to them in a different way.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: For example, we always do something called personalized trading card, so we take a photo of the fan.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: We convert them into their own trading card.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: So it's just keeping things top of mind and being right there in front of them is something that we're really striving to continue to do.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, and the my MVP 2024 campaign can tell us a little bit about who the audience for the campaign was and you know how you went out to engage them.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the my MVP contest.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: We're really focusing on dedicated hockey super fans that are 18 and above, finding these fans that are devoted to their teams, to their favorite teams, and how they've made a positive impact within the community.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: That could be either working within the community, engaging with different fans at the different games, bringing the cheers, and things like that.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: So those are who we're currently looking for.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: In terms of how we were promoting it, we did through Upper Deck, all our platforms, through online hockey publications, through the NHL and through some teams.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Okay, when you looked at the channels that you utilize to promote the MyMP 2024 program, what channels did you use and how did you make sure that you were maximizing awareness and participation across the different fan groups, leveraging those different channels?
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Obviously we use organic social speaking to our current fans themselves.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: We did paid digital target advertising.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: We did email blasts not only through our channels but also through the NHL, through the some NHL teams as well, so that really helped spread the word as much as possible.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: We also reached out to contestants from past seasons to let them know that the contest is available and that they can reenter if they didn't win previously and use them as kind of influencers to help grow the brand awareness.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Okay, and how do you look at measurement of the efficacy or the efficiency of that campaign when you're using and leveraging so many different channels and tactics?
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for us it depends on, obviously, the engagement, but for this season alone we just saw a 21 percent uptick in the entries from this season to last season.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: So that's definitely telling us that people are still interested in this contest and wanted to move forward.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: So that's definitely telling us that people are still interested in this contest and wanted to move forward.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Ok, and in what ways did the campaign, or can a campaign, foster a sense of community among NHL fans?
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Or do you have any notable stories or feedback from participants that highlight some of the campaign's impact?
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: I think this is one of the best features of this campaign, because it really does foster community within the contestants.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: So when they're they can, it's easy to get friends and family to vote for you, but it's harder to get your own community too.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: So when they're doing that, they're telling their story of why they deserve to be the winner of this contest and they're trying to reach as many people as possible in their community.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Within some of the seasons I can't remember which season that we ran this even some contestants from, like, other teams were kind of utilizing their voice with other teams to try to get them to vote as well.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: So there's a lot of collaboration around.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: And what are some of the outcomes?
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Some of the rewards or, uh, you know, special, uh, unique experiences that they could, uh, you know, be voted into or they could earn through the the my mvp 2024 promotion yeah, there's some great prizes that the ultimate mvp can get.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: So the one winner from the contest could get two tickets to stanley cup playoff.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: They also get their official trading card within an upper deck product, and that one's really special to some of the winners just because they also are a collector.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: They can finally see themselves amongst other people that they've admired for so long and through some of the teams that they follow.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: So it's exciting time for them.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Were there any obstacles or challenges that you faced while you were planning and executing the, the, the uh, my MVP 2024 program?
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't say any obstacles per se.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, since this is our fifth season, we've definitely worked out the kinks on, like the planning, the execution.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: It's more of like how can we continue to spread a word about this contest?
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: So like doing all the channels that I mentioned before and definitely utilizing the past contestants as as influencers as well.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, Were there some key learnings that you took away from this campaign and, if so, what are some of the insight that you can use to leverage or influence Upper Deck's future marketing efforts?
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: I would say the key learnings from this is really that the fans are a major part of this sport and they have stories, amazing stories, and they want to be heard.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: So it's just us always continue to try to listen to the fans and seeing what they want.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Um within our products.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: We always try to include um them when we have any events, particularly within their cities.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: That makes sense for us to kind of align and help share their stories.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: So, um, yeah, those are probably the key learnings and you touched on this a little bit, but can you explain the significance of featuring the ultimate mvp as an official trading card in the upper deck products?
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: You know how does this integration enhance the, the value proposition to participants.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: You talked about a little bit, but loving a little bit more yeah, I mean we usually include the their card within their card, within our MVP product for the upcoming season and that's a product that kind of starts off the whole NHL season for us.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: But for the winner themselves, it's a great moment for them because finally collectors can collect other fans.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: It's just another way to celebrate and support them.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: I've seen some of their past winners cards like on secondary markets and people are buying their cards and this is this is an exciting way for them to continue to share their stories Awesome.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Okay, great, and now we have our wonderful quickfire question round.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: We'd like to keep these to a short phrase or a one word answer, so we'll start with you know what word or short phrase do you like to use to inspire others?
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I would say courage okay, what is your least favorite word that others use?
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: No, okay what excites you at?
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: work.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Uh excites me at work um uh the reactions from fans okay, uh, what is your favorite nhl team?
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Mine would be vegas golden knights.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, and why do you like vegas golden knights?
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: They're such a strong team, uh, the production, uh, everything about them is just a fun atmosphere.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Okay, and who's?
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Your favorite nhl player of all time mine would have to be wayne gretzky, the great one, okay uh, what do you find tiresome at home or work?
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: oh, um, probably the dishes, or the drive, the commute to work okay, what, uh, what profession other than the one you currently have, would you maybe like to attempt?
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Um, probably something creative, uh, like photography or videography, and is there something that you enjoy doing that you don't get the time to do as often as you would like?
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: I love tv so much, I just feel like I don't get enough time to watch okay who inspired you to become the person you are today.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: My parents.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: For sure, cheesy, I know, but coming from being immigrant parents, they worked so hard to be where they are and I definitely.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: A lot of those things are still in me.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: That's awesome, and how do you want to be remembered by your friends and family?
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: A caring and loyal person that will do anything for them.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, great, thank you, paul.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: It was a pleasure getting to know you a little bit and also getting an update on the Upper Deck MyMVP2024 program.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: We appreciate it and look forward to hearing more about the program into 2025.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: So thank you.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Awesome, thank you, excellent and thank you everyone for taking the time to listen today.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Make sure you join us back every Thursday for additional episodes of our Leadership Customer Loyalty Series and until then, have a wonderful day.