Upper Deck Asks All Collectors to “Show Us Your Box Breaks!”

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UD will award prizes to collectors for submitting their video box breaks to the Upper Deck “Diamond Vision” site

Carlsbad, CA – (April 30, 2008) – There is a new phenomenon in the card collecting community that is changing the way collectors share the experience of opening boxes of trading cards. Collectors are opening boxes of Upper Deck products in front of a video camera and posting the videos to websites like YouTube. In January, 2008 if you searched for “box breaks” you would find slightly over 10,000 posts. Today there are well over 19,000 with thousands of viewers watching.



Upper Deck has launched a new video platform called “Diamond Vision” on their sports website to provide more video content to collectors starting May 1. Additionally, the company is now encouraging collectors to “Show Us Your Box Breaks!” Collectors can earn prizes for posting their box breaks at Breaks. Each week they will be asked to post different videos for a particular product. This week, collectors are being asked to show their box breaks of 2008 Upper Deck Draft Edition Football.



As collectors post their videos, other viewers will vote for their favorites. Upper Deck staff will review the top ten, as voted on by collectors and award one winner with a weekly prize of a premium box. Upper Deck staff will judge the submissions looking for collectors who show excitement & emotion, creativity and also the cards ultimately pulled. Larger monthly prizes will be awarded and those include a LeBron James UDA piece, a $1,500 shopping spree at the Upper Deck on-line store and 2008 Rookie Photo Shoot Autograph Football. The grand prize is a trip for two to one game of the 2008 World Series.



“Collectors have embraced this new forum for celebrating the experience of opening Upper Deck boxes,” said Kerri Stockholm, Upper Deck director of sports marketing. “We love the concept of user-generated content as opposed to Upper Deck trying to manufacture our own videos. Some of these videos are extremely clever and a lot of fun. It’s a natural for us to develop a way for our fans to see our products enjoyed and reviewed by other collectors through our site. It also makes sense for us to reward them for their efforts with Upper Deck product they obviously enjoy.”



“There are other tie-ins here for the hobby shop as well,” said Chris Carlin, Upper Deck hobby marketing manager. “Hobby shops need to be aware how quickly collectors are taking to this and embrace it. We would love to see hobby shops hosting video ‘box breaks’ in their store and submitting them for their collectors. It is a new way they can share how much fun it is to open Upper Deck products, while also advertising their store.”



Upper Deck filmed a brief introduction video to excite collectors about the program that can be seen on Breaks. The video is made up of Upper Deck staff as well as two long time spokespeople, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. So what are you waiting for? “Show Us Your Box Breaks!”



About Upper Deck

Founded in 1988, Upper Deck is a premier global sports and entertainment-publishing company that delivers a robust portfolio of products for sports and entertainment collectors alike. For more information, visit The Upper Deck Company: Sports Trading Cards, Authentic Memorabilia, Sports Collectibles, & Entertainment Products or - Upper Deck Store.