When you’ve been one of the industry leaders for two decades, one might think a company would rest on its laurels from time to time. But not Upper Deck. Last week in San Diego, the trading card maker brought in a cross section of distributors, brick-and-mortar retailers and even online retailers to discuss marketing programs, upcoming products and inventive ways to make the category stronger.

The meetings were kicked off last Jan. 7 by Upper Deck’s founder and owner Richard McWilliam. The industry mainstay shared that he felt it was of utmost importance to work together with a diverse group of customers to get the feedback necessary to grow the category. Bringing together such a varied group of customers paid off as Upper Deck staffers were able to generate plenty of great ideas on enhancements to products and programs for 2010.

“When we heard F+W Publications was no longer holding an industry trade show, we looked to revamp our normal distributor meetings in order to elicit a wide variety of opinions and feedback,” said Mike Phillips, Upper Deck’s director of hobby sales. “This has paid off tremendously for us as we are working to implement some of the feedback we received to make our already impressive lineup of 2010 products and programs even better. Being able to have the event coincide with the Major League Baseball Players Trust’s golf tournament is just a big bonus.”

As a corporate sponsor of the annual Players Trust event, Upper Deck officials were excited to get their customers up close and personal with current and retired baseball legends including the likes of Frank Robinson, Eddie Guardado, Eddie Murray, Tim Salmon and Reggie Sanders. With the upcoming release of 2010 Upper Deck Baseball Series One, it tied in nicely to be able to bring baseball cards to life for these valued partners.

“Upper Deck is the company that reinvented the way baseball cards are made, so as we enter our third decade in the business, it’s great to start the year off with an event like this,” said Jodi Wasserman, Upper Deck’s Senior Marketing and Events Manager. “Spending quality time with these customers and getting them to meet baseball greats like Evan Longoria, Trevor Hoffman, Dave Winfield and Kenny Lofton is a great way to start the New Year. This provides us with the spark we need to remain the category leader in baseball for 2010 and beyond.”