Pssst . . . Panini America’s 2012 Black Friday Event is Coming (and Here’s a Sneak Peek)

Technically, I don't think I'm supposed to be sharing the following images and information with you just yet. But some things are worth getting in trouble for -- and Panini America's upcoming 2012 Black Friday promotion is one of those things.

Technically, I don’t think I’m supposed to be sharing the following images and information with you just yet. But some things are worth getting in trouble for — and Panini America’s upcoming 2012 Black Friday promotion is one of those things.

So while I was across town yesterday at the company production facility taking part in the QC process for our 2012 Toronto Fall Expo wrapper-redemption packs, I just so happened to run into some 2012 Black Friday sheets in various stages of completion — and immediately started taking pictures.

We’ll have tons more information to share on this year’s Black Friday extravaganza in the coming days, but here’s what I can tell you right now about the set:

  • It’s a 50-card base set featuring players from all four major North American sports, including 27 Rookie Cards numbered to just 599.
  • There’s a 20-card Panini Collection insert debuting HD+ technology.
  • A 20-card Kings insert featuring painted images of the top legends and rookies from baseball (Diamond Kings), football (Gridiron Kings) basketball (Court Kings) and hockey (Ice Kings).
  • Two cards from Elite Series in a continuing insert honoring players who have made an impact on their sport and in the collectibles industry.
  • A six-card Thanksgiving Classic insert, featuring key players that will play on Turkey Day.

We’ll have tons more information to share on Black Friday right here on The Knight’s Lance soon. But until then, these early images of unfinished forms will have to suffice.

Share

42 Replies to “Pssst . . . Panini America’s 2012 Black Friday Event is Coming (and Here’s a Sneak Peek)”

  1. I doubt you will get in trouble. Thanks for sharing the pics. Always like to get a heads up of what is forthcoming. If you do get in trouble let us know and we can start a petition.

  2. WOW! These look great. Can’t wait to see more pictures of 2012 Panini Black Friday goodies. My customer’s can’t wait, so we are letting our customers reserve their 2012 Panini Black Friday packs with the Panini purchases they make today. We already have over 100 Black Friday Packs reserved by my customers. But no need to worry, we ordered enough GREAT PANINI Products to get us over 1300 Black Friday Packs……

      1. Tracy, It’s a no-brainer. Panini does the best promotions and these Black Friday cards looks great. Can’t wait to see the autos, memorabilia and Rookie Cards. You did an exceptional job getting the word out through the media outlets last year to make Black Friday a great success. Keep up the good work.

  3. Looking forward to this promotion after missing out on it last year. The packs at the National were great and these look great as well. Although I do venture out physically on Black Friday, at least for cards it is nice to have the online order option as well (once you tell us the details).

  4. It is so refreshing to me to see again and again panini pull out all the stops for its collectors. Great looking cards! Thank you Panini! Now if I can just get the info on how I can get my hands on some of these beauties.

  5. My daughters and I are so excited for Black Friday!! Finally Black Friday is exciting for not only the women and men shopping at walMarts, Target ect ect, but now for us card collectors!! This is why Panini is the BEST in the business!!! Keep up the great work Tracy and keep the pics coming!!

  6. The cards look terrific! We had some real challenges in Toronto getting our LCS’s involved or even being made aware of the promotion last year. In talking to the shop owners, even though they were on Panini’s on-line list of participants, the distributor did not explain the details to them. Has this been addressed for this year? Otherwise I will be bypassing my local card shop an crossing the border.

      1. Tracy, I would have to look back at the list. I recall Queensway Collectibles, Retro Rare Collectibles, A and R collectibles, and Comic Connection being completely unaware of the promotion. Then there was a shop about an hour from my house (Hamilton) that I had to spend over $100 to get a pack. The only shop (nearly 2 hours away) was Clouts and Chara, that seemed to be prepared for the event. I don’t want to come across unappreciatively, just trying to provide some honest feedback to help improve an already stellar event. Panini, and collecting in general, have a HUGE fanbase in the Great White North!

    1. The option was there last year but this year we worked harder to make sure Canadian shops had the info they needed – hope some participate.

      1. Thanks Scott, I really do appreciate your hard work and your creative designs. I look forward to visiting a couple of the local shops this year and hope to see you at the Expo in a couple days.

  7. Awesome! Love some of them. Want the gold cards and seen the Harper in there, really caught my eye. Ill be sure to try to get some packs.

  8. Really digging the early look at these promo cards, I really appreciate all the hobby exclusive stuff Panini produces and gets to collectors in the know. The Andrew Luck towel card I pulled from the National packs this year is arguably my favorite football card of the year and one of my favorite PC self-pulled cards of all time so each subsequent release brings back fond memories and optimism for what could be in store. Thanks for the preview Scott!

    1. Thx for the kind words, I remember each and every promo card I ever got at an event and strive to give collectors not just a cool card, but like you said, a cool memory or story on how they got it…I’m also biased and LOVE those towel cards. Little insider info – they do stink when the event is done LOL!

  9. Another awesome promo year for Panini. Just wished I had a LCS nearby to participate to try and land some of these. Thanks for the early preview Scott and Tracy!

  10. Pingback: Anonymous
  11. Tracy,

    Stuff looks GREAT! I couldn’t do Black Friday last year, but I *DID* do the Father’s Day promotion by pure luck and loved it! My only concern is I don’t do football or hockey, and are there going to be any of your quality baseball products released in time for this promotion? I can’t keep up with all of the release dates and they change so much! Golden Age of Baseball, Playoff Prime Cuts, or even Cooperstown Collection? Any of those going to count?

  12. As soon as you guys posted a sneak peek for Black Friday, I told my shop about it. The owner quickly left a message for his distrubutor on how to participate in the Black Friday event even though we’re in Canada and I wasn’t sure how many stores would take part in this year’s event. Hopefully he’ll get some answers soon, would be awesome for us north of the border to take part as well 😀

  13. So how are these obtained? I’ve heard that if my lcs participates it will offer them free with any purchase of panini products or something like that. Can someone clarify how to get these for me? Thanks in advance!

    1. Each store owner tends to run the program a little differently, but it’s intended to be a national wrapper-redemption program. You go to your local hobby shop, buy packs or boxes of the products your store owner has made part of the Black Friday program and you receive the equivalent number of special Black Friday packs.

      We hope to have a complete master list of participating dealers in the coming days. Once we post that, you’ll be able to contact your local shop and find out how they’re going to operate.

      1. Awesome. I am curious to see if any dealer around me is particpating. Preferably one near a mall since I’ll probably be heading there anyway-hahaha! Then there’ll be an online component as well. My EXPO packs (and Certified hockey box) should come tomorrow. Something to look forward to after school tomorrow-definitely!

  14. Is there a list of stores where they will be? I just called a Ron’s Collectors World at 7030 Columbia Pike, Annandale, VA 22003, who have been around for a very long time, and they said they never heard of it.

Leave a Reply to steelernation88 Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *