Having had many years of experience in providing fast food chains, newspapers, magazines, convenience store chains and other retailers with repetitive trade concepts, John decided to secure various entertainment and sporting licenses himself in 1993.
Trading Cards – Batman (Case Study)
John broke worldwide records for the sale of his “Batman Returns” trading cards!!
Trading Cards – Rugby League (Case Study)
The sales success of John’s Rugby League Trading Cards was stunning.
The purpose was to manufacture and distribute his own pop culture products and reap the financial rewards himself, rather than charge a fee and witness a dramatic increase in turnover for someone else’s business.
He therefore approached the Australian Rugby League (then known as the ARL but today known as the NRL) and various other sporting and entertainment licensors, with the view to securing the license to produce trading cards, stickers, albums, diaries, posters and other printed matter.
His first foray into the trading card / sticker business was via the Batman Returns Warner Bros movie - and utilising the power of News Limited newspapers, John broke world-records in terms of sales for the Batman Trading Cards. Through mass insertions in Sunday newspapers, John was able to stimulate massive reaction from consumers (mainly children of course) and his Batman Returns Trading Card Series flew off the newsagency shelves!
Of course, it was not just the marketing of the products that contributed to their sales success. John “value-added” to the product, unlike any of the previous bubble-gum card manufacturers who were predominantly confectionery companies (e.g. Scanlons Bubble-Gum and Stimorol).
John’s Batman Returns Collector Cards for example, featured special gold-embossed cards, randomly inserted together with sophisticated Batman holograms. He didn’t stop there. Each pack also contained a Gotham City Dollars currency note, which children collected to reach a certain amount and then redeem for special free collectibles.
And he didn’t even stop there! There was also the opportunity for children to win a replica mini model motorised Batmobile, five of which John produced and promoted nationally through the Hey Hey It’s Saturday TV program!
After the success of the Batman Trading Card product, John built alliances with the Walt Disney Company to produce Disney Classics Collector Cards, Magic of Disney Sticker Series, Disney Adventures Collector Cards, Aladdin Collector Cards (the movie starring Robin Williams) and numerous others.
John took out the license for the Mario Brothers movie Collector Cards, and struck gold when he negotiated the trading card license for the movie blockbuster, “Jurassic Park”. (Again, John somewhat replicated the inserts of the Batman series, by giving children the incentive to repetitively purchase the packs for the chance to win prized Jurassic Park collectibles).
John also negotiated with the Australian publisher of The Phantom comic books, to produce a spectacular set of Phantom Trading Cards, which again broke sales records in Australia.
Additionally, he negotiated with the AFL Players Association to produce a spectacularly successful AFL Trading Card series. (Which was a “smash-hit” with AFL fans, particularly in Victoria!)
But of course, John’s piece-de-resistance throughout this period was the ARL Rugby League Trading Card license, where he took retail sales of Rugby League Trading Cards from $2 million in 1993 to over $12 million in 1994. A six-fold increase in just one year certainly speaks volumes for his product design and marketing capabilities!
This was the biggest sales leap in one season for any Rugby League product in the history of the game!
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