The World Cup sticker album offers product lessons to companies in every sector
The World Cup album, seen through a “management lens”, can be inspiring (Photo: Getty Images)
In recent decades, every four years, Brazil has experienced a kind of social “fever” for one very specific thing: the World Cup sticker album.
It is not just here. It is a worldwide phenomenon. In much of the world, this seemingly ordinary and simple product drives a multimillion-dollar market like no other. It makes young people and adults in many countries eagerly buy millions upon millions of albums and stickers.
It produces enormous mobilization, in groups and at trading spots – on streets, in squares, in shopping malls –, generates true obsessions with having the complete album and encourages insane hunts for the rarest stickers.
Of course, the passion for soccer, the most popular sport in the world, contributes to this success. But that is not all. A series of features have been added over time to the album, produced by the same company (Panini) since the 1970s, which make it a product development success story from which we can draw some lessons.
The most evident characteristic is that the album is a product with a clear, captivating value proposition, which has been refined over several cycles.
I highlight seven attributes that make this value proposition so appealing.
First, it is a positively “challenging” product. It creates in people a kind of “mission”, something they need to do, proving that they are capable: trading stickers, finding the hard ones and, finally, completing the album.
Second, it is a “socializing” product. It is consumed and handled collectively. People meet to trade stickers. In schools, public places, companies. Among friends, coworkers, family members or strangers.
Third, at least for those who like soccer, it is a highly informative and even educational product. People learn who the players are, their positions, their physical characteristics, what the uniforms, the flags and the stadiums look like… It is cultural.
Fourth, it is a “simple” product for the consumer. However intricate the rights negotiations and complex the logistics may be on the producer's side, when it reaches the hands of those who buy and collect it, it is a paper product that is easy to use, handle, carry and show.
Fifth, it is a product that allows a certain flexibility. People can either make an effort and spend all the resources they have to complete the album, or they are free, if they wish, to stop the collection halfway. And both “journeys” can be rewarding, thanks to the pleasure of the process of trading and socializing, even if not all the way to the end.
Sixth, it is a “lasting” product. It tends to remain part of people's history. It creates good memories and keepsakes. I have friends who proudly keep, as a kind of trophy, the albums they completed in all the recent World Cups in which they collected.
And seventh, it is a globalized product, tied to a major worldwide event, the World Cup, which is highly mediatized and captivating and stirs hearts and minds every day.
These are some of the components I see in the album that make it a success. You could certainly see many others. They are elements that its creators managed to add and that work very well as this product's value proposition.
The success of the World Cup album holds important lessons for companies in every sector (Photo: Getty Images)
Every product needs to have its own specific value proposition. How can each company develop products that are as captivating and that create experiences as enjoyable for customers as the World Cup album?
There is no magic formula, but, prompted by the discussion of the album, I offer a few points inspired by lean product development that can be useful in any sector and business environment:
Know your customers very well. This is the starting point of every product, and developers who use the lean philosophy take it to the extreme. They use not only surveys but interact directly with customers in the real environment. I do not know whether Panini applied this concept systematically, but observing groups of collectors over the various editions was certainly of great value.
Identify the need, problem or pain your product will solve. In the case of the album, it sets out to meet the search for enjoyable activities and ended up expanding its purpose to, for example, the need for socialization. Having a purpose that keeps broadening is a strategy that can work in many other situations.
Develop a clear value proposition. We saw an example above, in the case of the album. The challenge is to identify, for each product, elements that create a real connection with the customer and a rewarding consumption experience.
Take care of operations. There is no point in conceiving a good product if it is poorly executed or poorly delivered. I do not know how Panini ensures that the album and the sticker packets reach every corner of the world, but it is an impressive operation. It certainly has its setbacks (for example, in Argentina, where the shortage of albums generated such popular mobilization that it ended up being a matter dealt with even at government level).
Learn and improve. The album has been launched for every World Cup for decades. With each edition it incorporates small innovations (for example, this year's “legend” stickers). And the whole process has certainly been improved. Just look at the ever-greater reach it achieves. Even though Panini draws lessons from other albums, the World Cup ones come out only every four years and have been gradually improved as a product. Unfortunately, we see companies with products with much shorter cycles that miss the opportunity to run experiments, evaluate and learn quickly and consistently.
These are just a few examples of reflections that may represent important lessons for companies in every sector. The World Cup album, seen through a “management lens”, is inspiring for anyone who needs to conceive, produce and launch competitive products.
