Behind the Scenes of the Fanatics Collectibles ‘Let It Rip’ Campaign

Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. helped take the latest Topps campaign to the next level.

ATLANTA—Ronald Acuna Jr. was asked to do what he always does. He just needed to crush baseballs.

Pitch after pitch, the Atlanta Braves superstar delivered what felt like no-doubt home runs. It was impossible to tell, but they sounded like it.

While his mission was the same, the setting was different. Instead of Truist Park, Acuna Jr. was obliterating baseballs 10 miles away at Atlanta’s PC&E Sound Stages on a rainy January afternoon.

“I think we got it,” a voice from the production crew said after one liftoff.

“No,” Acuna Jr. responds. “I can do better.”

The crew laughed and Acuna Jr. smirked, but he wasn’t joking.

The cover athlete for 2024 Topps Series 1 Baseball, Acuna Jr. is also the star of the “Let It Rip” campaign and the trailer to market the official release on Feb. 14.

Filming just over three weeks before release, the spot needed Acuna Jr. to look like he was crushing the ball.

Acuna Jr. is no actor and there was no pretending.

The reigning National League MVP reset inside the batter’s box to deliver another series of thunderclaps. As expected, Acuna Jr. buried most pitches into the net backing the pitcher and their L-Screen.

One particular pitch didn’t follow instructions. This ball arrived at the net, exploded through it, and eventually landed on the set after bouncing near microphones and monitors with a bright red warning: “Please Don’t Touch The Screen.”

The crew let out a collective sigh of relief before returning focus to Acuna Jr. and his makeshift batting cage.

The trailer, the set and the collaboration with Acuna Jr. are all part of the Fanatics Collectibles push to market Topps trading cards — especially its flagship Topps Series 1 — in a new way.

“What you’re seeing is us bringing the energy and excitement of baseball and baseball cards to life,” said Andrew Goodman, Fanatics Collectibles VP of Brand Marketing. “It’s us telling that story in that proper, premium way — at the same level of other famously premium storytellers.”

The production crew looks on as Ronald Acuna Jr. poses for the Let It Rip trailer.

Fanatics Collectibles

Campaigns like “Let It Rip” haven’t been the norm for trading cards. In fact, major marketing of any kind hasn’t been the norm for trading cards.

Since acquiring Topps in 2022, Fanatics has changed the playbook while entering the sports card hobby. The move to purchase Topps came shortly after Fanatics secured exclusive long-term rights to make trading cards for the NFL, NBA and MLB, and the marketing so far has matched the investment.

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin has famously told the hobby that the goal is to greatly increase the number of collectors, and that simply can’t happen without a new strategy.

“[The marketing] is important because the product deserves it,” Goodman said. “The hobby deserves us giving it the attention we’re giving it. And it’s so ripe for storytelling, so finally leaning into that, it’s a long time coming.”

Fanatics Collectibles believes that this commitment to storytelling will bring fans, and hopefully new collectors, closer to their favorite athletes. If Nike makes commercials for sneakers, Fanatics Collectibles should be making them for Topps trading cards.

Topps kicked off its new game plan with last year’s Series 1 cover athlete, Seattle Mariners superstar Julio Rordriguez, and a short series called The J-Rod Show.

The J-Rod Show was followed by a series of thoughtful chase cards in key products. The 1/1 Rookie Debut Patches from 2023 Topps Chrome Update Baseball and First Milestone Relics from 2023 Topps Inception Baseball were meant to link important cards to specific events and moments in time.

Then there was the massive promotion around 2023 Bowman Draft Baseball and Tom Brady’s first baseball cards.

Ronald Acuna Jr. and Fanatics Collectibles VP of Brand Marketing Andrew Goodman (left) watch a replay of the most recent swing.

Fanatics Collectibles

The reality, however, is that better storytelling isn’t possible without the leagues, players associations, and athletes themselves all buying into the process.

Acuna Jr. was happy to do exactly that. A new collector himself, he also understands his popularity in the sports card hobby.

“I just feel very honored, especially with all of the superstars that are here in the major leagues,” Acuna Jr. said through an interpreter. “It’s a privilege to be here and to be the face and the cover of Series 1. Obviously it’s an honor, and it’s nice to know that putting in all the work — that people will take that into consideration.”

For Topps, having Acuna Jr. on the cover and at the center of the campaign wasn’t a difficult decision. He did just complete a historic 40-homer, 70-steal, unanimous MVP season, after all.

It makes sense to put the player that had the best season on the cover, but Acuna Jr.’s commitment to the project instantly changed the dynamic.

The effort in the batting cage spilled onto the basepath, too. Even if it would only result in a single second of footage, Acuna Jr. exploded off the bag at full speed to simulate stealing a base.

Fanatics Collectibles created a fake basepath on set to help Acuna Jr. simulate stealing a base.

Fanatics Collectibles

According to Goodman, Acuna Jr.’s effort and engagement were immediately noticed.

“We’re in this together, so him being the face of this product and being the face of this campaign means something to him, and him making it great means something to us,” Goodman said. “We’re all here trying to make great stuff. It’s good for everybody. That’s the evolution — it’s just us investing in what requires investment.”

Director Jeff Harding echoed Goodman’s sentiment. These types of projects need to have clear stars and those stars need to be engaged from the beginning.

“As soon as he cares, it makes our jobs easier,” Harding said. “There’s no way to fake it, so that’s why it’s important to involve him in the process. Because this is something we are making together. We can point a camera and we can light it right, but we can’t make his body move in the most dynamic way. So for him to put the pressure on himself to perform just means that it’s going to be great.”

For Topps Series 1, Fanatics Collectibles hoped to create a clear synergy from beginning to end. All the way from the design of the card to the cover athlete and the final trailer.

Highlighted in the “Let It Rip” spot, the new design for this year’s set features a neon border and a glow around the team names. While that visual aspect was settled on before securing Acuna Jr. as the cover athlete, it wasn’t hard to link it to his electric playstyle and incorporate that into the spirit of the campaign.

Harding says that creating an ad for something like a trading card isn’t easy, but this one had all the right parts.

“It can be difficult, but this particular one wasn’t because the cards are awesome and they’re built on this neon design,” Harding said. “So for us, it was very easy to decide that we’ll make it so [Acuna Jr.] is the electricity that powers the baseball. He’s the most electric player, so that was our whole concept in this case.”

While the newfound commitment to large campaigns has become much more common under Fanatics, Goodman says there’s a right time and place. The truly special products will get special treatment while others may not.

“You can’t do them all and still respect the time it takes to do them all right,” he said. “ You have to pick and there’s got to be a process for that … I wish we could do them all. You just can’t. So we find the right innovation, the right story to tell, then we just lean in and create authentic messaging that can attract our hobby.”

While not every product will get an entire campaign of support, Goodman says this treatment is in the best interest of the hobby and collectors should expect it to continue.

“I think they can expect more of this,” Goodman said. “We’re just getting started, and we’ve been learning a lot. Know that this is important to us, so we’re investing in it. We’re trying to build this thing up because it deserves it.”