Panini will marry the latest hand-held technology with autographs and trading cards when it trots out Panini HD later this year.
The company announced Tuesday that it would be created video “cards” containing an autograph, plus video footage of that specific card being signed and numbered by the player and likely a few minutes of video footage of the player.
The products will be limited in quantity and apparently not part of a specific product release.
“We’re just going to drop them out there,” said CEO Mark Warsop.
Whether collectors embrace the product remains to be seen. Immediate questions would center around storage and display.
No details on pricing were released, but Warsop indicated Panini HD would be produced from the company’s marketing budget, which would indicate it’s not really being directed at a traditional card collecting audience. While not revealed yet, one would expect price points to be well into the hundreds of dollars considering players like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin would likely be part of the checklist.
“As you can imagine, there’s no better way of authenticating an autographed card than showing you the player signing that card, showing you the player numbering that card and that footage being featured on that specific card,” Warsop said. “I can’t think of any way that you can authenticate a hand-signed trading card any better than that.”
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