We sent our man Alex Reid to the home of Panini stickers to find out why the primitive ritual of tearing open a packet of stickers and filling an album still stirs a magical feeling in a digital age. Prepare to indulge yourself in swapsies, shinies and the search for Gary Lineker...
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00:00Panini already knows two months before, they have a secret, yes we have a secret.
00:14And I'm being told by their own team, he's a bit ugly, could you please change his photo?
00:21Our collectors like simplicity, they like Panini, they don't want to be hassled with
00:26problems.
00:39Whether you're a young kid or a full grown adult, there's nothing like the simple thrill
00:43of tearing open a pack of stickers.
00:45Will I get the England Shining?
00:47Will I get Lionel Messi, Mo Salah, Harry Kane?
00:51Will I get the last player I need to complete Brazil?
00:54No, I will get Armando Cooper.
00:57Right, one down, lots more to go.
00:59I'm Alex Reed, Digital Features Editor at 442.
01:03This is the moment when World Cup fever becomes real to me and thousands of others around
01:07the globe.
01:08The moment when you've got a packet of Panini stickers in your hand and you're ready to
01:11fill a new album with the world's best footballers.
01:15What makes this simple thing so timelessly appealing that it gets everyone from children
01:20in playgrounds to adults in offices got, got, needing for a stack of a friend's swaps?
01:26Only one way to find out.
01:28Let's talk to some serious collectors who put me to shame.
01:43Hello there.
01:44Great, nice to meet you.
01:45Andrew, come in.
01:47When did you first get involved in collecting stickers?
01:50It was 1979 with Panini's Football 79.
01:54I was very young, only five, so it was all down to a kindly brother who decided that
02:01he was going to support my sticking, sticker collecting habit for Football 79 and it was
02:07one of their biggest albums ever.
02:09Now, fortunately, we've got the cyber playground, so we've got Twitter, people do it on Facebook
02:16and something that you can actually do with your friends and spark up friendships with
02:21people that you never knew and you can even end up swapping with celebrities.
02:26There are people like Ed Sheeran and Ed Balls and Josh Widdicombe, they were all tweeting
02:31their swaps lists for 2014 and I'm sure there'll be plenty doing the same in 2018.
02:37Have you seen a resurgence of interest in recent years?
02:41The real resurgence in Panini stickers came in 2006 when the Germany World Cup came around.
02:482010, people carried it on and then 2014, there's never been anything like it around
02:55the world.
02:56I think it was the social media that helped.
02:59Twitter was about in 2010 but not quite as big as it was in 2014, so a lot of people
03:05were doing their swapping there.
03:06You had Facebook as well, but it was something fun that people were doing and when you finish
03:13it, it's the sense of achievement.
03:16While you're doing it, it's hoping that you can achieve finishing it.
03:20But as I say, I think the most important thing is that people enjoy it.
03:25It's not just the UK where the Panini craze strikes, this is a global phenomenon.
03:30The Russia 2018 album is available in over 100 countries.
03:35That's more than treble the number of nations who've actually qualified for the World Cup itself.
03:39In particular, the continent of South America is home to some of the planet's most avid collectors.
03:44I don't think any of us realised when we started this just how popular Panini stickers are
03:50across all of South America.
03:53It's a huge thing in Colombia, isn't it?
03:55Yeah, massive.
03:56Not only in Colombia, all of South America, I mean it's something that we look forward
03:59to, you know, it's like a dream to us in South America.
04:03Like say if it was 10p, the moment you had 10p, there's only one thought in your head,
04:06run to a shop and get a pack.
04:08It's always the case.
04:11So who was the really popular player that everyone wanted to get in 1986?
04:16What was the player?
04:17Definitely Maradona.
04:18And I was lucky enough to get him twice.
04:20I actually kept the other one but I kind of misplaced it, unfortunately.
04:26So how much would a Maradona in 1986 be able to command in the playground?
04:31We were trading up to 10 stickers just for the one Maradona sticker.
04:35So yeah, popular, very popular.
04:37We have a phrase in England when we're swapping stickers in the playground, which is like
04:43got, got, need.
04:45If you're going through the stickers, you've got, you've got, you've got, you need.
04:47Is there a similar thing in Spanish?
04:49Exactly the same translation, la tengo, la tengo, la tengo, no la tengo, la tengo.
04:54Fernando, you see here that you've gone to the trouble of getting these collections bound,
04:59which is amazing.
05:00They do look incredible.
05:03Why do they mean so much to you that you wanted to keep them in this way?
05:06I've always wanted to, I mean, I wanted to start something that could carry on within
05:11the family.
05:12Thought it was always to live it with my son, who also is passionate about football and
05:17remember ever since he was little, he would help me stick him and I would just scream
05:21that you have to put it in the inside of the squares, you know, so it was always the idea
05:27that to pass them on.
05:29Okay, grown-ups like myself, Greg and Fernando love collecting stickers, been a digital aid
05:34of smartphones and hundreds of hours of live football on TV every single week.
05:39Why do kids still get bitten by the sticker collecting bug?
05:42It's time to talk to a true professional.
05:45Hi Alex, come on in.
05:48Hey Billy, how you doing?
05:51Thanks for inviting me over.
05:52No problem.
05:53So Billy, you're a big fan of Panini, like myself, big fan of stickers.
05:58I finished two albums.
06:00Pretty impressive.
06:01So I know you've got like the picture of Neymar up there on the wall, were you particularly
06:06excited when you got him?
06:08Yeah, because he's my favourite player.
06:11Oh, it's awesome that you've completed both of these albums, let's sit down and take a
06:16look for them.
06:17Yeah.
06:18And what do you enjoy about doing it, what do you think is fun about it?
06:21Like getting them from shops and seeing new ones or old ones that you already have and
06:27yeah, and sticking them down takes quite a while if you want to get it perfectly in the
06:32box.
06:33Have you got the technique down then Billy, have you got like the, I don't know, these
06:36look pretty good to me.
06:37Yeah, but some of them my dad did.
06:41This is how old I am.
06:42That is the first album that I had, World Cup album, which was Italian 90.
06:47Gosh.
06:48I know, I didn't get anywhere near to complete it, I didn't do anywhere near as well as you.
06:51Wow, you did not complete many.
06:53I know, I didn't do very well at all, did I?
06:57Look at that, Italy, dreadful.
06:58Right, that's how far I got with England, not too bad.
07:00No, you're not impressed at all, are you?
07:03Tell me about doing it with your dad, Billy, do the two of you just sit down and open some
07:07stickers together, start sticking them in?
07:10Um, yeah, like on weekends or after school.
07:14And then I used to go out with my grandpa to the shops and then we used to buy, I used
07:20to buy two penny packets and a bubble gum.
07:27So Billy, I'm really impressed that you've completed 2014 and 2016, that's amazing work.
07:32So I think it's pretty important that we get started on, there we have it, Russia 2018.
07:40Okay, so Javier Hernandez.
07:43You got it, there you go.
07:46Come on.
07:47Silence.
07:48No.
07:49Yeah.
07:51Yeah, I mean that's, Billy, that is absolutely perfect.
07:57Spot on, the first sticker.
07:59So Billy, we've given you a bit of a start here, good luck completing your album.
08:04Thanks.
08:05High five.
08:08The fun of swapping and collecting stickers crosses generations and countries, but where
08:12did it all begin?
08:16How did this simple collectible grow to become so iconic?
08:20What's kept Panini at the top of the pile?
08:22There's only one way to find out.
08:24Head to Panini headquarters in Italy to talk to group publishing director and self-confessed
08:29collector Fabrizio Melligari.
08:31How many hours, how much work has gone into creating what we see before us right now?
08:37Well, first of all, because you've seen it, now we are forced to kill you.
08:42I'm not a happy man.
08:44Well, okay.
08:46Well, the minute the winning team lift the trophy and celebrate the victory, well, that
08:55is the minute we start working on the following World Cup.
09:00The company started in 1961.
09:07The real founder was Mr. Giuseppe Panini, who very quickly called his family to work
09:17with him.
09:18This is the first Panini album.
09:20The stickers were very simple.
09:24They were all created starting from black and white pictures, which were mechanically
09:30colored in pre-press.
09:33And this one that I'm showing you is Mr. Bruno Bolchi.
09:37This is the first sticker produced by Panini.
09:41Fabrizio, have there ever been any turning points in the history of Panini?
09:47One where it's been a success, but it could have gone the other way, any kind of moments
09:52where there was a real fork in the road?
09:551970, the first World Cup.
09:57For the sake of being able to distribute it immediately everywhere, for the first time,
10:03as I said, it appeared a multi-language caption.
10:11Let us say that strategically, that was the key point to go like that all over the world.
10:22And that was the turning point, because Mexico 70 granted to Panini the possibility to be
10:29international.
10:30Obviously, I'm a huge fan and I know lots of people that are, but do you ever get any
10:35sort of famous people or footballers themselves who've revealed to you that they are collectors
10:42or were collectors in their childhoods?
10:45Well, I think the first one that comes to my mind is Gianluigi Buffon, the international
10:53football player of Juventus, who is a big fan of ours and a big collector.
10:59It's the first one that I would think of.
11:02Yeah, not a bad goalkeeper, he's not a jack of hearts.
11:06I see what you mean.
11:09In the frenzy of opening a new pack of stickers and carefully placing them in our album, we
11:13don't consider how much work goes into creating something that seems so simple.
11:17How do you obtain the rights from 32 different governing bodies?
11:20How do Panini ensure that the World Cup squads are as accurate as humanly possible in advance?
11:25And who will help me finish my Italian 90 album?
11:31We headed to Modena, home of Ferrari, Lamborghini, balsamic vinegar, and of course, the place
11:37where Panini stickers are actually created.
11:43It's not just us collectors who have to be kept happy, however.
11:46There's the footballers and their federations too.
11:48It's a mammoth planning task that brings its own unique challenges.
11:52What I receive are incredible requests of changes with respect to pictures that we are
11:58willing to use for incredible reasons.
12:02The hair are not perfect, for example.
12:05It was raining, so the player I'm using the picture of is wet.
12:14The expression is not perfect.
12:17I'm being told by their own team, he's a bit ugly.
12:21Could you please change his photo?
12:23Have you ever had any situations in the past where you've gone with a certain squad and
12:30it's caused any stories about players you've left in or left out?
12:34I remember very well in 2014, when the German journalists arrived in Modena and saw the
12:42pages of the new album, they saw that Mario Gomez was not inserted in the collection.
12:49Mario Gomez.
12:50Well, guys, you are completely crazy.
12:54Mario Gomez is one of the most important players.
12:58One week before the World Cup, the coach of Germany announced the final list.
13:04Mario Gomez was out.
13:08And the sounds of the titles in Germany completely changes.
13:13Panini already knows two months before.
13:16They have a secret.
13:17Yes, we have a secret.
13:18We say here in Italy that football is the most important thing of the less important
13:25things.
13:27Now it's time to head to where the action really happens.
13:29The factory where thousands of stickers are printed, cut, mixed and packeted every single
13:35day.
13:36This is the heart of our production department.
13:38Here we bond our stickers.
13:41This is me in the factory with production manager, Simona Spiaggia.
13:45She's explaining how the whole system works and trying to ensure that I don't leave with
13:50260 packets of stickers inside my own pockets.
13:54The FIFIMATIC packaging machines use the same original design created by Umberto Panini
13:59in the 1960s.
14:00It can't be found anywhere outside of a Panini factory.
14:04However, what truly amazes me is that you never get a swap or even two footballers from
14:09the same national team in the same pack of Panini stickers.
14:12Simona explained to me that this is because each sheet of stickers is mixed both before
14:16and after the individual stickers are cut to ensure a fair mix.
14:21The exact science of it totally went over my simple brain, but it's clearly a well-oiled
14:25machine run with razor-sharp precision.
14:34All of that work for this, but this is something very special.
14:39Even though Antonio Allegra and Giorgio Arevecchia have been at Panini for a combined three decades,
14:45they still understand, better than anyone, why we still get that unmistakable buzz when
14:51we rip open a pack of stickers.
15:45We believe that this combination of sensations can't be found on a smartphone or a tablet,
15:59but they are typical of a physical product.
16:01And, moreover, we're talking about football, the World Cup, so something that is a phenomenon
16:07of mass, a phenomenon that can be shared even worldwide.
16:10The real magic of Panini is to keep simple a product that actually is very difficult
16:22to create.
16:23It's difficult to make something that, in the end, is so simple, so wonderfully easy.
16:28Yes, when the work behind is difficult, you need to keep simple because our collectors
16:36like simplicity.
16:37They like Panini.
16:38They don't want to be hassled with problems.
16:41Now we come to the heart of the matter.
16:43This entire trip to Italy is just an excuse for me to try and finish my Italian 90 album
16:48and stop nine-year-old kids like Billy laughing at me in the street.
16:52It's time to do what every England midfielder was looking to do when they had the ball during
16:57the 1990 World Cup.
17:00Find Gary Lineker.
17:01So, how far does your archive of stickers actually go back here?
17:05We start our availability from 1964-1965.
17:11We have special shuttles, we call them shuttles because they are automatic machines that can
17:18contain millions, really, millions of stickers.
17:21So, you have helped me today by finding me.
17:24This is very precious.
17:25I was actually very excited when you showed this to me.
17:28That is an actual Gary Lineker sticker.
17:32All the stickers that you find at Panini are original, so our company never reprints
17:39stickers.
17:40There.
17:41We may be 28 years late, but Links is finally in there alongside his strike partner Peter
17:45Beardsley.
17:46Yet, while the timeless joy of Panini is a huge part of its appeal, the company still
17:51needs to change with the times, so understandably it's embracing new media, from games to
17:56digital swapping.
17:57As a new media, we need to give some value added to this way of naturally collecting,
18:07and for example, we use the technique such as augmented reality rather than other techniques
18:17to give additional content to the traditional stickers.
18:22We created an app called Panini Collector's App that is being completely re-engineered
18:27for this World Cup, where kids can track the completion of their collection, scanning the
18:36stickers, creating the swapping list, swap these lists online on social networks, and
18:45have fun because there will be games based on the stickers collected.
18:50From the UK to Italy to South America, via the unlikely pairing of famous collectors
18:55such as Ed Sheeran and Jean-Louis Buffon, it's clear the joy of collecting stickers
19:00has a universal appeal that crosses boundaries.
19:02To me, it's a bit like vinyl records, something that should belong to another era, but its
19:07vintage appeal actually means it's becoming more popular than ever.
19:11That's why I think people will always be collecting Panini.
19:14Now, good luck completing your own Russia 2018 album.
19:17Go, go, go, Nind.
19:43Go, go, go, Nind.