Upper Deck unveils football-specific television ad

Upper Deck has unveiled its very first football-specific television ads, a campaign that leverages this year's much heralded 2006 rookie class featuring Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Vince Young and Mario Williams and the latest release of Upper Deck Football - and gives kids a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get up close to next year's big name rookies.

Titled "After the Trade," the 15- and 30-second spots follows the successful TV spots the company aired last April surrounding its 2006 baseball offering, one that launched the industry's first-ever kids reward web site, www.upperdeckkids.com. To date, 70,000 kids have signed up, with more than 4 million cards being registered.

The ads will air on Nickelodeon, The Cartoon Network, and on a continuous loop on the Kids Rewards Web site.

In the commercials, five kids are walking across a football field. The four in front can't believe it, the kid directly behind them - the one with an ear-to-ear grin - has just traded them the card they wanted for a collection of other cards. "Can you believe he gave me a Manning autograph for Bush, Leinart and Young?!" says one of the kids in the commercial, holding up his new card featuring the Colts' All-Pro quarterback.

The protagonist boy with the rookies knows he traded a great card. But: he got three in return that he can now register online to enter Upper Deck's "Collect the Rookies, Play with the Rookies" sweepstakes, a contest that sends the winner to the 2007 NFL Players Inc. Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles. He got more than lucky all of his cards because they can be registered at www.upperdeckkids.com for a chance to win great prizes.

Upper Deck's "Lucky" spots were created by Paul Posnick, New York, the agency behind the company's entertainment products, including Yu-Gi-Oh! and Vs. System (Marvel).

More on 'Collect a Rookie, Play with a Rookie' Sweepstakes
Prior to every season, Players Inc. holds its annual trading card photography shoot in Los Angeles for its top rookies, an exclusive event not open to the public. But next spring, one lucky young fan will not only be invited to witness this unique coming-of-age experience - they'll be made honorary members of the 2007 NFL rookie class and participating in every element of the shoot! The winner will be posing with the rookies in a once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity, getting autographs from their favorite players, participating in interviews, playing in the video game challenge and eating lunch with the top NFL rookies of the class of 2007.

To register to win, fans 17 and under can collect these rookies from Upper Deck's 2006 UD Football set and then enter the code on the back of the card at www.upperdeckkids.com. Each card will also build points toward other prizes, such as iTunes songs, video games and autographed footballs from Upper Deck Authenticated.