Vince ChangSports Memorabilia Designer

MKT 474 – Sports Marketing

Rey Del Rosario / Yun-Lun Hsieh

4/19/2010

Table of Contents:I. Interview Transcript P. 2

II. Assessment/Opinion P. 7

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Interview Transcript

We’re sitting here, it’s Rudy (Yun-Lun), Vince and Rey. Vince Chang, can you tell us a little bit of what you do?

I’m a graphic designer for Upper Deck and I’m a graphic designer in the memorabilia division, Upper Deck Authenticated. It’s my job to design core products for athletes such as LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, such as jerseys, basketballs, photos, basically anything that would look good displayed in a home.

Can you tell us a little bit about the company you work for? About how they started and how they are declining?

When Upper Deck first came out they set themselves apart by having better quality photos, designs on trading cards, and as a collector and at the time I saw myself that it was true. They started making money, thus started expanding. It was all good when cards kept their rarity: before you can only find two or three rookie cards of a certain player, though now it’s not uncommon to have ten plus. The market became oversaturated and cards lost value.

From a designer point of view, what do you think that Upper Deck and similar companies do to market themselves better?

From a designer’s point of view, you have to be innovative, not afraid to take risks. You have to follow trends, and not be stuck in the ‘90s, which is what was happening within Upper Deck. Other companies started following trends while Upper Deck did not, and that has a lot to do with the people employed. I worked with Upper Deck Authenticated, which was the memorabilia division, which allows for a lot more creativity than just “designing cards”, which would consist of putting a picture within a frame.

Can you describe some of the products you have designed in the past which were distributed through Upper Deck Authenticated in the past?

I mainly did a lot of design photos, and I also designed this case called the Curve, which was a display that housed an 8”x10” photos with a signed hockey puck, baseball or golf ball, etc. I worked within a PDT, a product development team, so whenever we got a creative brief from the higher-ups we try to visualize their idea and make it reality. We

As a designer, you can work in many different areas besides sports. What is it about sports that drew you in?

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I like sports and I like graphic design. I have no desire to design for anything else but sports, unless I have to, to make quick bucks here and there. I see myself as two different people sometimes: the sports fan in me is like “I want this and that” and the designer in me is like “okay I’ll make that happen.”

So you want to mesh it together.

Haha yeah, and it might sound extreme but if it wasn’t for sports I don’t know what I’d be doing. It’s great that sport is such a big market. My professors before were like “you should venture into different markets” but instead of doing that, I want to stick in sports. For me I feel like you should specialize in one area and emphasize, and so far it seems to be working.

Can you give us an example of a failure what you have learned from it?

On the card side, in the boxes of cards there was this one pack: 6 cards per pack, each pack was $600. There was never a product at that time that was as big, at that magnitude. The idea was to let the cards out once every five years. At first it was a big hit, though when Upper Deck found out that it made a lot of money, they started coming out with them every year out of greed. That’s an example of what you shouldn’t do. Upper Deck should have stuck with the plan to insure rarity. Can’t saturate the market; can’t let the money get to your head.

Can you describe any one product that you’ve designed that was a success?

In terms of design, instead trying to make it visually look good, I try to give it conceptual depth. I’ll show you a picture, this sequence of Jordan; instead of show a sequence of him dunking, I took a sequence of him from him in his younger days into his older days.

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You put more thought into your pieces and I believe if you put more effort into your designs, the customers will see it. Don’t just think of what has made money in the past but you have to innovate. Quality Jordan design pieces go for $800, $1000 so don’t try to fool your customers. They have the money and they want quality. Quality over quantity, anytime.

Where do you want to be in five years?

I want to stay in memorabilia. When I first signed on to Upper Deck, they told me “You’re going to work in memorabilia”. I didn’t even know what memorabilia was. I thought I was going to be working with trading cards; basic designs and whatnot. I grew to like memorabilia; I really like the freedom, being creative with what I do. I would like to start my own company within the memorabilia industry; a company with a vision where art and sports collide.

Can you tell us about the major competition within the industry?

There are a couple competitors, like Topps and this new company, Panini; but Upper Deck was the only one that did autographed photos, though the other companies did memorabilia that was unsigned. Upper Deck was probably had the most cloud, but it had a lot of potential that went untapped1.

Can you describe memorabilia?

Signed helmets, jerseys etc., but what the difference was that we took to effort to design unique products, like “break-through” posters where a basketball might be popping out, where other companies would just put standard jerseys and photos together.

What don’t you like about the industry?1 Taking a quick look back, as of Jan. 1, 2009, Upper Deck was fully licensed for MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL cards (along with Major League Soccer, for that matter). Now it just has a shared NHL license with Panini, rather than the exclusive it had enjoyed for the past five years, it’s out of the NBA and NFL markets and it has only a Players’ Association license for MLB that — thanks to the terms of a lawsuit settlement — is virtually unusable.

---------The Bristol Press; April 11th, 2010; ANGILLY: Upper Deck is now out of NFL card market, too---------

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As far as what I don’t like… you can’t be afraid to take risks. Upper Deck has been in the game for 10-15 years; you need to keep things fresh. We’re sort of stuck in this monster that we created. For example, for basketball photos: the marketing team just wants dunk photos, because dunk photos sell. Why do they sell? It’s because it’s all we sell – it’s all that the customer sees. On the creative side, we try to think of what else what the customers want, and not be afraid. We have to be creative. To a certain extent you gotta step out of that; you gotta give to receive.

What do you think are the industry’s strong points?

The reason I think autographs succeed is because that’s the closest most people can get to an athlete. I heard somewhere that the sports industry is the 4 th factor that makes up the US economy. People love sports and they want something they can keep for themselves. Autographs are the simplest thing to do, and we kick it up with ideas, like offering game shoes, like Kobe vs. LeBron or actual golf balls that Tiger Woods used. I like the idea of bringing the fan closer to the game.

You as an individual, as a designer for memorabilia, what do you think your biggest strength is?

Passion. Passion for sports. I think passion in any job is the key; it’s the passion, the love of what you do that makes you improve. And that’s what people tell me too,

What about technically? What skills do you have?

I work with Photoshop & Illustrator mostly. As far as technical skills I acknowledge I am lacking though I have enough to get a job, but I try to function in a different way where I implement more concept

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design, more creativity – so when I get a creative brief, when someone asks for a 16”x20” design photo piece, I do extensive research on an athlete before trying to put something together. I try to get a feel for the person’s personality, passion, and sometimes ego.

Take for example: Matsuzaka, the pitcher for the Red Sox. Before Japanese players didn’t ask for too much money from teams; they were grateful just to play in the United States, on a greater stage; though Matsuzaka was part of a new generation – he knew what he was worth. He held out for more cash – he has his own name on his shoes because he knows how to market himself. So what I did when designing for him is put his name really huge in the background, because I knew he wouldn’t mind that. You gotta customize the design to the player.

So the players have to sign off on the design?

Yeah, we get the approval from the agents if not the player themselves, and also from the league. Sometimes they reject it, like Jordan: he doesn’t like to have his tongue out [laughs] so we have to photoshop that out. Tiger Woods doesn’t like to have his pictures without his hat, so we try to keep pictures of him with his hat on. It’s understandable because these pieces are going to be on the walls of their fans indefinitely, so they want to put their best image forward. Some players like LeBron James, don’t care but you have to cater to the player as well. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant & Tiger Woods are more cautious about what go out there so we cater to that.

Are there any sports you prefer to work with?

Definitely basketball and football for sure. When it comes to hockey I have to search for motivation. [laughs]

Thanks for your time!

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Assessment / Opinion

Would you conclude the interview went well?

We believe the interview went well. Vince Chang was great to interview; he brought a wealth of information about sports cards and memorabilia in general.

Did you enjoy the process? Did you learn anything in which you did not expect?

This was actually quite interesting while we conducted this interview with our interviewee—Vince Chang, the former sport memorabilia designer from Upper Deck™. And of course, during the interview, we found ourselves enjoying this good time with wonderful lunch. From this interview, we have learned how Upper Deck™ rose and declined throughout the years, we learned the success of this former trading card giant and how it has fallen. Through Vince’s view of the market of trading cards and memorabilia, we learned the concept behind all the marketing strategy that drives the sales for trading cards and memorabilia, and also the trends of the sport production.

Can you apply any of the principles we have learned in class to your subject’s particular situation which you believe would be helpful?

Do you agree/disagree with anything the subject offered?

I agree subject’s opinion about how the memorabilia industry goes in the future. Vince has a vision of the trends of sports product according to his experience. In fact, what happened to Upper Deck is the best example of how marketing works in the sports industry. We can learn a lot from its rise and fall to determine more accurate marketing strategy for any product that we try to reach the ideal market share.

What do you feel are your subject’s biggest opportunities for the future?

We think that there is still a huge potential market for memorabilia. However, it heavily relies on the public relation within the entire sport industry. Marketer has to realize that both stakeholders for trading cards and memorabilia have to depend on each other to reach the ideal market share and thus maximize the profit out of the product.

Can you bring in any outside examples/research to support your recommendations?

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Knowledge of industry, creative outlook, Passion for sports, well known brand name.

Weaknesses Technical / Engineering – emphasis is more on concept and design, poor creativity and public relation.

Opportunities Memorabilia industry is arguably “stale”, has room for creativity

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Threats Saturated market, competitors include new market entrants such as Panini

Overall conclusion

Vince’s strong points are his job experience with Upper Deck, knowledge of the inner workings of the industry and passion for sports and creativity. Being employed within Upper Deck’s sports memorabilia division provided him with the opportunity to gain valuable insight on how the big companies view consumers. He also was able to see first-hand the inner workings of the industry, including how products go from concept and product design to

To be successful in the sport industry, it not only requires correct and accurate marketing strategy, but also requires the effort to find out what customers’ needs and wants are. As a marketer, when launching a new product, we have to always look up the trend that changes consumers’ desire as the generation switches. And of course, sometimes the best product itself is the best promotion. Good products can lead to good word of mouth and therefore product itself plays a significant role in the marketing strategy. Also, to keep the value of the product, you have to carefully look out the supply and demand for the product so you won’t get the market oversaturated.

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