Panini America offers reason to make a taco run
By Chris Olds | Beckett Basketball Editor
There aren’t any panini on the menu, but there’s Panini at Taco Bell.
What?
Yep, there are panini at Taco Bell … Panini America trading cards as part of a new promotion that places new 2012-13 NBA Hoops cards into kid’s meals at the fast food giant.
Each $2.99 kids meal (at participating stores) includes a five-card pack of Hoops cards from an exclusive 150-card set along with what you see above — unless, of course, you opt for the burrito, soft taco or the cheese roll-up.
The new set of cards, which have rounded corners and a small Taco Bell branding trademark on the back, features several players on their new teams — Jeremy Lin, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, for example — and five players represented for every NBA franchise, according to the company.
The 14 rookies in the set also carry a Rated Rookie logo, a new touch from the original Hoops release this season.
The promotion runs through May.
It’s the first food issue for a major card-maker and fast food chain in the United States in several years. Most recently, McDonald’s worked with Upper Deck for hockey sets in Canada.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here. Follow Beckett Media on Facebook.
That is a good marketing idea for both companies.
i guess my kids will be eating a little more taco bell the next few months
This is exactly the type of thing this hobby needs more of. I like the rounded-corners look, too.
April just became Mexican food month for me.
I wonder if they will sell the packs separately (as McDonalds has done in the past).
How do we know or find out which stores are participating?
I bought 2 packs for additional $1.05 each along with two kids meal. I think it’s pretty cool and something different.