Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data analytics and truck accident claims
    How Data Analytics Reduces Truck Accidents and Speeds Up Claims
    7 Min Read
    predictive analytics for interior designers
    Interior Designers Boost Profits with Predictive Analytics
    8 Min Read
    image fx (67)
    Improving LinkedIn Ad Strategies with Data Analytics
    9 Min Read
    big data and remote work
    Data Helps Speech-Language Pathologists Deliver Better Results
    6 Min Read
    data driven insights
    How Data-Driven Insights Are Addressing Gaps in Patient Communication and Equity
    8 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Survival of Innovation
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Uncategorized > Survival of Innovation
Uncategorized

Survival of Innovation

Editor SDC
Editor SDC
4 Min Read
SHARE

In 1988 Pinnacle Brands broke into the baseball card market. The market had long been dominated by a couple of players (Topps,  Donruss, and Fleer) and the market was doing fairly well. It catapulted onto the scene by throwing in new features to the market, more colorful cards, full edge bleeds, more information, etc., with their Score brand. Over time they added in brand variations that were targeted at very specific markets:

  • Score: Lower price point, more kid friendly
  • Select: Mid price point, geared for the beginning collector
  • Pinnacle: Higher price point for the more serious collector

If you followed the baseball card market at that time you will remember it as a rather unique time. It was perfect example for economists. The value of each card, pack, box was independently valued by third parties. Card shops popped up in nearly every neighborhood to trade cards, and serious collectors were following the distribution trucks buying entire cases at a time before they even hit the shelves. The catch was that you could not make all the cards you wanted. The more you made the less you sold, and vice versa.

One of the main things that happened was the wrong sales …


In 1988 Pinnacle Brands broke into the baseball card market. The market had long been dominated by a couple of players (Topps,  Donruss, and Fleer) and the market was doing fairly well. It catapulted onto the scene by throwing in new features to the market, more colorful cards, full edge bleeds, more information, etc., with their Score brand. Over time they added in brand variations that were targeted at very specific markets:

More Read

Mind the Gap: Cognitive Load
Playing With Wolfram Alpha
How to Build Relationships through Returns & Bad Transactions
Watch the Smarter Analytics channel via the New Intelligence…
NYT on breast cancer screening and probabilty
  • Score: Lower price point, more kid friendly
  • Select: Mid price point, geared for the beginning collector
  • Pinnacle: Higher price point for the more serious collector

If you followed the baseball card market at that time you will remember it as a rather unique time. It was perfect example for economists. The value of each card, pack, box was independently valued by third parties. Card shops popped up in nearly every neighborhood to trade cards, and serious collectors were following the distribution trucks buying entire cases at a time before they even hit the shelves. The catch was that you could not make all the cards you wanted. The more you made the less you sold, and vice versa.

One of the main things that happened was the wrong sales mentality. What made them successful, new  innovation, also hurt them. They tried to stack the cards to the ceiling and create a consumer good mentality, not realizing the principal that the card would really only sell if they kept product very limited.

Hindsight being perfect (still a good lesson none the less) they should have kept production runs low, elevating the brand and looked for other ways to extend the brand. As a last change, they started to get into other types of cards. I think in the beginning they had the brains to come up with demand creation card games like today’s Pokeman genre.

Upper Deck came along in the same year and appears to be the leader in the field today. Usually someone is going to survive. Are you doing everything you can to make sure it is you?

Posted in Analytics, Culture of Action, Customer Value, Environmental Scan, Innovation, Operational Performance Management Tagged: baseball cards, Innovation, Pinnacle Brands, Survival, trading cards, Upper Deck


Link to original post

Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

AI supply chain
AI Tools Are Strengthening Global Supply Chains
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive
data analytics and truck accident claims
How Data Analytics Reduces Truck Accidents and Speeds Up Claims
Analytics Big Data Exclusive
predictive analytics for interior designers
Interior Designers Boost Profits with Predictive Analytics
Analytics Exclusive Predictive Analytics
big data and cybercrime
Stopping Lateral Movement in a Data-Heavy, Edge-First World
Big Data Exclusive

Stay Connected

1.2kFollowersLike
33.7kFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

So you think you can run a search conference…

5 Min Read

Cloudy days

8 Min Read
Image
Uncategorized

Is This the Biggest Big Data Company You Have Never Heard of?

8 Min Read

And Bing’s Strongest Vertical Is…Kayak?

3 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

AI chatbots
AI Chatbots Can Help Retailers Convert Live Broadcast Viewers into Sales!
Chatbots
ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?