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
00:19his photo our collectors like simplicity they like Panini they don't want to be
00:25hassled with problems whether you're a young kid or a full-grown adult there's
00:42nothing but the simple thrill of tearing open a pack of stickers will I get the
00:46England shining will I get Lionel Messi Mo Salah Harry Kane when I get the last
00:51player I need to complete Brazil no I will get Armando Cooper right one down lots
00:59more to go I'm Alex Reid digital features editor at 442 this is the moment when
01:04World Cup fever becomes real to me and thousands of others around the globe the
01:08moment 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 what makes this simple thing
01:16so timelessly appealing there gets everyone from children in playgrounds
01:21to adults in offices got got needing for a stack of a friend swaps
01:25any one way to find out let's talk to some serious collectors who put me to shame
01:30great nice to meet you and you come in how did you first get involved in collecting stickers
01:49it was 1979 with Panini's football 79 I was very young only five so it was all down to a kindly
01:59brother who decided that he was going to support my sticking sticker collecting habit
02:05for football 79 and it was one of their biggest albums ever now fortunately we've
02:10got the cyber playground so we've got Twitter people do it on Facebook and and
02:16something that you can actually do with your friends and and and spark up
02:21friendships with people that you never knew and you can even end up swapping
02:25with celebrities there are people like Ed Sheeran and Ed Balls and Josh Widdicombe that
02:30they were all tweeting their swaps list for for 2014 and I'm sure there'll be plenty doing
02:36the same in 2018 but have you seen a resurgence of interest in recent years the the real resurgence
02:42in in Panini stickers came in 2006 when the the Germany World Cup came around 2010 people carried
02:50it on and then 2014 there was there was there's never been anything anything like it around the
02:55world I think it was the the social media that that helped Twitter was about in in 2010 but not
03:01quite as big as it was in 2014 so a lot of people were doing their swapping there you had Facebook as
03:07well when it was it was something fun that the people were doing and when you finish it is the
03:13sense of achievement well what while you're doing it it's hoping that you can achieve finishing it
03:19but as I say I think the most important thing is that people enjoy enjoy it it's not just the UK
03:26where the Panini craze strikes this is a global phenomenon the Russia 2018 album is available in
03:32over 100 countries that's more than treble the number of nations you've actually qualified for
03:37the World Cup itself in particular the continent of South America is home to some of the planet's most
03:42avid collectors I don't think any of us realized when we started this just how popular Panini
03:49stickers are across all of South America it's a huge thing in Colombia isn't it yeah massive not
03:56only in Colombia all of South America I mean it's something that we look forward to you know it's
04:00like a dream to a lot to go to us in South America let's say if it was 10p the moment you had 10p
04:05there's only one thought you run to the shop and get a pack yes it's always it's always the case yeah
04:11so who is the really popular player that everyone wanted to get in 1986 what was the play definitely
04:17Maradona and I was lucky enough to get him twice and I actually kept the other one but I'm kind of
04:24misplaced unfortunately so how much would like I know a Maradona in 1986 be able to command in the
04:30playground people trading up to 10 stickers just just for the one Maradona sticker so yeah yeah popular
04:36very popular we have a phrase in in England when we're swapping stickers in the playground which
04:43is like got got needs if you're going through the stickers you've got you've got you've got your
04:47need is there a similar thing and it's exactly the same translation latengo
04:50latengo latengo latengo no latengo that thing Fernando we see here that you've gone to the trouble
04:57of getting these collections bound which is amazing they do look incredible um why do they mean so much to
05:04you that you you wanted to keep them in this way I've always wanted to I mean I wanted to start
05:09something that could carry on within the family thought was always to live with my son who also
05:15was passionate about football and remember ever ever since he was little he would help me stick him
05:19and I was just screamed that you have to put it in the inside the squares you know so it was always
05:26the idea that to pass them on okay grown-ups like myself Greg and Fernando love collecting stickers
05:33been a digital age of smartphones and hundreds of hours of live football on TV every single week why
05:39do kids still get bitten by the sticker collecting bug it's time to talk to a true professional
05:45hi Alex come on hey how are you doing thanks for inviting me over no problem so Billy you're a big
05:54fan of panini like myself big fan of stickers I finished two albums pretty impressive so I know
06:02you've got like the picture of Neymar up there on the wall were you particularly excited when you got
06:07him oh yeah because um here's my favorite player oh it's awesome you completed both of these albums
06:14let's uh let's sit down and take a look for him yeah and what do you enjoy about doing it what do you
06:19think is fun about it um like getting them from shops and seeing new ones or old ones that you already
06:25have and yeah and sticking them down takes quite a while if you want to get it perfectly in the box have
06:32you got the technique down them Billy if you've got like the I don't know these look pretty good to
06:37me yeah but some of them my dad did that's this is how old I am that is the first album that I that
06:44I had world cup album which was Italian 90 I know I didn't get anywhere near to complete I didn't I
06:50didn't do anywhere near as well as you yeah wow we did not complete many I know I didn't do very well
06:55at all did I look at that Italy dreadful right that's how far I got with England not too bad no you're
07:01not impressed at all are you tell me about tell me about doing it with your dad Billy do the two of
07:06you just sit down and open some stickers together start sticking them in um yeah when like on weekends
07:12or after school and then I used to go out with my um grandpa to the shops and then we used to buy I
07:20used to buy two penny packets and a um it was like bubble gum so Billy I'm really impressed that you've
07:27completed 2014 and 2016 that's amazing work so I think it's pretty important that we get started
07:35on there we have it Russia 2018 thank you okay so heavier Hernandez you got it there you go come on
07:47um silence no yeah I mean that's Billy that it's been three times absolutely perfect yeah spot on the
07:58first sticker so Billy we've given you a bit of a start here um good luck completing your album thanks
08:04high five
08:04the fun of swapping and collecting stickers crosses generations and countries but where did it all begin
08:12how did this simple collectible grow to become so iconic what's kept panini at the top of the pile
08:21there's only one way to find out head to panini headquarters in Italy to talk to group publishing
08:27director and self-confessed collector Fabrizio Meligari how many hours how much work has gone into
08:35creating what we see before us right now well first of all because you've seen it now we are
08:40forced to kill you so well okay well the minute the winning team left the trophy and celebrate the
08:53victory well that is the minute we start working on the following World Cup the company started in 1961
09:05the real founder was mr. Giuseppe Panini who very quickly called his family to work with him this is the
09:18first Panini album the stickers were very simple they were all created starting from black and white
09:27pictures which were mechanically colored in in free press and this one that I'm showing you is mr. Bruno
09:36Bolchi this is the first sticker produced by Panini Fabrizio have there ever been any turning points in
09:44the history of Panini one where it's been a success but it could have gone the other way any kind of
09:51moments where there was a real fork in the road 1970 the first World Cup for the sake of being able to
09:59distribute it immediately everywhere for the first time as I said it appeared a three a multi-language
10:08caption let us say that strategically that was the key point to go like that all over the world and that
10:22was the turning point because Mexico 70 granted to Panini the possibility to be international and
10:30obviously I'm a huge fan and I know lots of people that are but do you ever get any sort of famous people
10:36or footballers themselves or have who've revealed to you that they are collectors or were collectors in
10:43their childhoods well I think the the first one that comes to my mind is Gianluigi Buffon the
10:52international football player of Juventus who is a big fan of ours and big collector it's the first one
10:59that I would think of yeah not a bad goalkeeper he's no Joe Hart I see what you mean in the frenzy of
11:09opening a new pack of stickers and carefully placing them in our album we don't consider how much work
11:14goes into creating something that seems so simple how do you obtain the rights from 32 different
11:19governing bodies how do Panini ensure the World Cup squads were as accurate as humanly possible in
11:24advance and who will help me finish my Italian 90 album we headed to Modena home of Ferrari Lamborghini
11:34balsamic vinegar and of course the place where Panini stickers are actually created it's not just us
11:43collectors who have to be kept happy however there's the footballers in their federations too it's a mammoth
11:49planning task that brings its own unique challenges what I receive are incredible requests of changes
11:56with respect to pictures that we are willing to use for incredible reasons the hair are not perfect for
12:03example and it was raining so the player I'm using the picture of is wet and the expression is not
12:15perfect I'm being told by their own team he's a bit ugly could you please change his photo have you
12:24ever had any situations in the past where you know you've gone to with a certain squad and it's caused
12:31any stories about players you've left in or left out I remember very well in 2014 when the German
12:38journalists arrived in Modena and see the pages of the of the new album see that Mario Gomez was not
12:47inserted in the collection Mario Gomez well guys you are completely crazy Mario Gomez is one of the of
12:56the most important players one week before the World Cup the coach of Germany announced the final list Mario
13:04war Mario Gomez was out and the sounds of the titles in Germany completely changes Panini already knows two
13:14months before they have a secret yes we have a secret we say here in Italy that football is the most important
13:22thing of the less important things now it's time to head to where the action really happens the factory where thousands of
13:31stickers are printed cut mixed and packeted every single day this is the heart of our production
13:37department here we bought our stickers this 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 260 packets of
13:51stickers inside my own pockets the Fifi-Matic packaging machines use the same original design created by
13:58Umberto Panini in the 1960s it can't be found anywhere outside of a Panini factory however what truly
14:04amazes me is that you never get a swap or even two footballers from the same national team in the same
14:10pack of Panini stickers Simona explained to me this is because each sheet of stickers is mixed both before
14:16and after the individual stickers are cut to ensure a fair mix the exact science of it totally went over my
14:23simple brain but it's clearly a well-oiled machine run with razor-sharp precision
14:34all of that work for this but this is something very special even though Antonio Allegra and Giorgio
14:41Aravecchia have been at Panini for a combined three decades they still understand better than anyone
14:48why we still get that unmistakable buzz when we rip open a pack of stickers
14:52Allora noi crediamo che Panini sia così forte oggi così importante come 50 anni fa perché in realtà
15:02in una bustina di Figuine c'è una serie di sensazioni e di magia che sono uniche cerco di spiegarmi meglio
15:08allora immaginiamo un ragazzino e che ha in mano una bustina di Figuine è qualcosa di fisico è qualcosa
15:16di misterioso quindi io non so cosa c'è dentro devo scoprirlo e per scoprirlo l'apro e la strappo qui
15:23in un gesto quasi liberatorio l'odore delle Figuine tutti noi abbiamo in testa un odore di Figuine che
15:30ci dà una sensazione speciale e poi scopro se ho vinto se ho perso se ho trovato il mio giocatore
15:37preferito e quindi magari oh questo mi mancava questo l'ho trovato questo posso portarlo sempre
15:44con me oppure posso incollarlo sull'album insieme agli altri eroi perché alla fine sono i miei eroi
15:51che posso collezionare noi crediamo che questo insieme di sensazioni non si trovi in uno smartphone
15:57o in un tablet ma sono tipiche di un prodotto fisico e oltretutto parliamo in questo caso di
16:02calcio della World Cup e quindi di un qualcosa che è comunque un fenomeno di massa un fenomeno
16:08che si può condividere anche a livello mondiale e questo è il motivo per cui secondo noi oggi
16:14le Figuine dei Panini sono più vive che mai.
16:16The real magic of Panini is to keep simple a product that actually is very difficult to create.
16:23It's difficult to make something that in the end is so simple so wonderfully easy.
16:28Yes when the word behind is difficult you need to keep simple because our collectors like simplicity
16:37they like Panini they don't want to be hassled with problems.
16:41Now we come to the heart of the matter this entire trip to Italy is just an excuse for me to try and
16:46finish my Italian 90 album and 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 the
16:571990 World Cup. Find Gary Lineker. So how far does your archive of stickers actually go back here?
17:05We started our availability from 1964-1965 and we have special shuttles we call them shuttles
17:13because they are automatic machines that can contain millions really millions of stickers.
17:22So you have helped me today by finding me this is very precious I was actually very excited
17:27when you showed this to me that is an actual Gary Lineker sticker.
17:32All the stickers that you have to find at Panini are original so our company never reprints stickers.
17:40There we may be 28 years late but Lynx is finally in there alongside his strike partner Peter Beardsley
17:46yet while the timeless joy of Panini is a huge part of its appeal the company still needs to change
17:51with the times so understandably it's embracing new media from games to digital swapping.
17:57As a new media we need to give some value added to this way of naturally collecting and for example
18:09we use the technique such as augmented reality rather than other techniques to give additional content
18:20to the traditional stickers. We created an app called Panini Collectors app that is being completely re-engineered
18:27for this World Cup where kids can track the completion of their collection scanning the stickers creating the
18:38swapping list swap swap these lists online on social networks and have fun because there will be games
18:47games based on the stickers collected. From the UK to Italy to South America via the unlikely pairing
18:54of famous collectors such as Ed Sheeran and Jean Luigi Buffon it's clear the joy of collecting stickers
19:00has a universal appeal that crosses boundaries. To me it's a bit like vinyl records something that should
19:05belong to another era but its vintage appeal actually means it's becoming more popular than ever.
19:10That's why I think people will always be collecting Panini. Now good luck completing your own Russia 2018 album.
19:29I'm using a newer episode of PYT.
19:36So two of these applications I feel like I've been talking about.
19:39When I have created a new video map, I am looking for a new video map on TV.
19:43It's a new video map that I have found on TV in the future...
19:48I'm looking for my new video map, I'm looking for the new feature of it in many videos.
19:51This is a new video map that I've got 21 years ago.
19:55I'm going to buy newYes…