Game-Changing Panini Rewards Program to Launch with Release of 2014 Score Football

Panini America, the global leader in licensed sports and entertainment collectibles, today announced that this week’s release of 2014 Score Football, the first NFL– and NFLPA-licensed trading card product of the 2014 season, will include the debut of the company’s groundbreaking Panini Rewards program. More than two years in the making, the in-pack Panini Rewards program – available as both a smartphone app and a web platform – will allow fans and collectors the ability to earn points that can be used to acquire autographed and memorabilia trading cards featuring the players and teams of their choice, as well as unique collector experiences in the future.
Panini America officials developed the Panini Rewards Platform with a focus on developing a system that delivered more value to collectors by giving them the ability to choose autograph trading cards and other items through an established point value system tied to Panini Rewards. The Panini Rewards Platform gives collectors the ability to earn points by scanning randomly inserted Rewards cards with their mobile devices. The Panini Rewards program will debut in other sports beginning with 2014-15 NBA Hoops Basketball (September) and 2015 Donruss Baseball (February 2015).

Panini Rewards points cards are randomly inserted into packs of 2014 Score Football; collectors can use their Panini Rewards smartphone app to scan the QR code on those cards to claim the points; collectors can also manually enter their points cards on the Panini Rewards website. Collectors can exchange their points immediately for any available single cards in the Panini Rewards inventory, or accumulate points to earn higher-value cards, other collectibles and unique Panini experiences.
The Panini Rewards points never expire and collectors will be able to view every available Panini Rewards card immediately using the Panini Rewards smart phone app or on the Panini Rewards Platform website.
“The Panini Rewards Program is a truly revolutionary development for the entire trading card industry and will offer us the chance to effectively eliminate and further reduce redemption cards from our products, replacing them with Panini Rewards Points that collectors can use to acquire any available card immediately,” said Panini America CEO Mark Warsop. “This program has been in development for more than two years and we are excited to finally share it with collectors.”
Other highlights of the program include:

• Upon a product’s launch, collectors will have immediate access to Panini America’s available single-card inventory directly from their mobile devices.
• The ability for collectors to choose their own replacements from the Panini Rewards Platform.
• The Panini Rewards Platform will be accessible via both web- and app-based applications for iOS and Android devices.
• Panini America officials worked with Kodak to implement a high-resolution image-capture solution designed to recreate the experience for collectors to view memorabilia and autograph cards for every available card on the Panini Rewards Platform.

Future Rewards Platform enhancements will give collectors the ability to self-authenticate their trading cards to ensure authenticity and eliminate issues related to potential counterfeit trading cards on the secondary market.
The Panini Rewards app and website are both live now. Tomorrow, right here on The Knight’s Lance, we’ll have a comprehensive FAQ post that addresses many of the collector questions that have surfaced since Panini America officials first announced the Panini Rewards program during the 2014 Industry Summit in March.