Posting About Post

Throughout the last month or so, football has been the center of the sporting world's attention.  Of course I'm not talking about the gridiron, I'm speaking to the sport that we Americans have branded soccer for some reason.  While, for many years,  the narrative has been that Americans don't give a damn about soccer/football/futbol, the tide seems to be turning somewhat.  Despite not having a dog in the fight this time around, my timeline was filled with people discussing the international game, bemoaning flopping, and parsing the action in this morning's early morning final match.

Concurrently, interest in our country's domestic soccer league also appears to be on the rise.  Major League Soccer has added five new clubs to their roster since 2015, with three more expansion teams on their way.  That being said, the average broadcast of an MLS game only brings in about 30,000, a modest total when it comes to pro sports.  Thus, the organization still has some work to do when it comes to promoting their rapidly expanding league.

On that note, while walking through the aisles of my local CVS yesterday evening, I noticed MLS's latest initiative to further their brand:

Post Cereal is apparently the official breakfast cereal of Major League Soccer.  As an devoted lover of all things breakfast cereal, I'm actually kind of surprised that I didn't already know this when I came across this box of Honey Bunches of Oats.  This brand just so happens to be one of my favorite brands of the breakfast staple.  

I went into that corner drug store in need of twenty dollars in cash to blow at a poker game; but, with no Chase Bank ATM nearby, I opted to just buy myself a small treat and get cash back on the transaction.  When I saw the back of this cereal box, I instantaneously knew what my evening snack was going to be.  Yea, I munch on dry cereal as a snack - I wasn't kidding around when I said that I love breakfast cereal.

Now, to be honest, I'm not much of a soccer fan.  I've attended one Chicago Fire game in my life and I ended up leaving before it ended in a 0-0 tie, which just seems wrong to me.  However, I am a fan of the concept of oddball trading cards on the back of cereal boxes!  Considering the situation at hand, this was a no-brainer purchase, in my eyes.

Seeing as Post is the official cereal of MLS, the two entities partnered with Topps to offer up panels of trading cards on the backs on certain cereals.  The four cards you get vary on the kind of cereal you purchase - for example, Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds will always net you the four players that you see above, while HBoO w/ Banana Bunches will feature an entirely different panel.  Other brands that are participating in the promotion include Fruity & Cocoa Pebbles, Oreo O's, and Honeycombs.  I was hoping to find a box with a Chicago Fire player included; but, sadly, CVS didn't carry any of those other kinds.

After scarfing down a bunch of bunches and losing all of my poker money (rather quickly), I made sure to "ask a grown up to help me cut the cards out of the box," as instructed by the box.  But, since my wife could only roll her eyes at me, I had to do it myself.  Don't worry though, all of my fingers are still attached.

Like I said, I'm not much of a soccer fan; thus, I don't know much about the players depicted on these oddballs.  Although, the name Jozy Altidore does ring a bell.  As it turns out, that makes sense, as the Toronto FC forward in one of the more accomplished players in North American soccer history.  The New Jersey-born player has been on the professional scene since 2006, playing in the MLS, as well as across the globe (including the Premier League), and representing the United States in many international tournaments.  

I guess I have subconsciously absorbed some soccer awareness at some point.

The cards themselves feature a sleek, angular design that keeps everything nice and simple.  It's not bad, though I would prefer that the blue triangle which contains the player name, number, position and team be a tad small, as it ends up blocking out nearly a third of the photograph.  Additionally, there is an abnormally large "Topps" logo in the upper left corner - there will not be any questions as to who was behind the creation of this set!

As for the backs, well they're blank - so, I won't be getting any stats or biographical information to educate myself on the players or the game.  I suppose that's a necessity of the manufacturing process; I can't  imagine it would be easy to print on the outside AND the inside of the cereal box.

All in all, the cards are decent and the concept is pretty nifty.  Of course, this is not Post's first venture into the world of trading cards... far from it.  In the early 1960's, the cereal company cemented their place in hobby lore by using the back panels of their cereal boxes to print up baseball and football cards that sports-loving children had their parents pulling out their hair over trying to find the right boxes.  You'll see these much-ballyhooed cards appear on the blogosphere from time to time and I even have a few myself:

Then, the breakfast giants revisited this concept in the early 90's, including cello-wrapped cards inserted into the boxes throughout the first half of the decade.  In fact, it was through one of these promotions that I acquired my very first baseball card, a 1994 Post Mark Whitten card that I still have kicking around somewhere today.   Unfortunately, I cannot find it at the moment, otherwise I would include a photo of it in this post.  Please settle for Mark Grace and Ryne Sandberg from the 1991 & 1992 editions, respectively:

Anyway, it's nice to see that Post is getting back into the trading card game.  While soccer cards are nice and all, I can think of a certain other sport that is having some difficulties when it comes to marketing their game to children.  What better way is there to reignite interest in baseball among the youth of America than through the backs of the cereal boxes? After all, think of how many kids down a bowl of cereal every morning before school.

C'mon Post, make it happen!  Now that Topps seems to warm to the idea and they have reaffirmed their exclusive MLB license, this seems like a perfect promotion to me.  Hopefully these soccer cards move some units, then the old bubblegum company might actually be interested in expanding the promotion.

Do you think it would work?