Silly CDs Climb the Charts at Retail

What do you get when you cross the emotional and legal problems of celebrity recording artists with irreverent humor that will make any sixth grader bust a gut? The answer is a new line of collector cards called Silly CDs that parody recording artists' album covers and songs.The cards are the brainchild of Tom Riccio, the ceo of Silly Productions, and they began shipping to retail in display boxes in October. Riccio is a longtime fan of the Wacky Packages collector cards, which parodied consumer products during the '70s and Garbage Pail Kids cards, which lampooned the Cabbage Patch Kids of the '80s.When Riccio decided to create his own updated series for contemporary collectors, he went to Jay Lynch, the original concept artist for both Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail kids. After some deliberation, Silly CDs were born.The concept is decidedly edgier than the original Wacky Packages. Many of the cards target not only the music genre, but also take jabs at the personal and legal dilemmas of the artists. Ozzy Osbourne is depicted as "Oozy Ooze-Butt" and is shown biting the head off of Batman. The Dixie Chicks are renamed "The Nixon Chicks." And the boy band N'Sync is immortalized in card form as "N'Stink."Riccio says the cards appeal to everyone from eight years old to 50, but that hasn't made getting distribution at retail any easier for the Long Beach, Calif.-based company. The very nature of the cards and their roughhouse humor can be off-putting to some. "Every once in a while we'll get a buyer who is really excited about the product, but the ceo will be a 70-year-old who just doesn't get it," says Riccio. "The old people just don't understand it. They might think that the jokes are a little too much."The cards are currently being sold through a variety of channels, such as c-stores, specialty trading card shops and gas stations, and the company's broker network is working to get the cards placed anywhere else they can. Most recently, the company snagged a major coup by getting placement in Target stores. About a third of Target stores are currently selling the cards and more are scheduled to follow, Riccio says.The supporting advertising for the Silly CDs launch is unapologetically minimal. In fact, the company has no money allocated for advertising. Instead, the company is relying on news stories and media reports to bolster enthusiasm for the cards."I'm a little guy," explains Riccio. "We decided that we had zero budget for advertising. That's partly why we decided to make the cards edgier. We wanted to make these 'publicity worthy.'"The cards have already been featured in news articles in USA Today, Playboy and Rolling Stone. Many radio stations have used the cards as promotional giveaways, as well.The company's approach to in-store marketing, on the other hand, is anything but whimsical. According to Riccio, Silly Productions will do whatever it takes to get placement at retail. When working with Target, the company even reconfigured its display box to bring the count size down to 24 packs of cards.The standard display box holds 36 packs of cards and features graphics and information about the series on its sides. Each case of cards includes a 16-inch by 20-inch poster, which Riccio says is mainly being used in trading card stores and comic book shops. The display boxes and poster were printed by Outlook Graphics Corp., Neenah, Wis.Silly Productions is considering releasing a power wing display for the drugstore channel. Although final plans were still being determined at press time, Riccio says the company will accommodate every retailer's request.Riccio is enthusiastic about the future of the cards, but admits that distribution has become a bigger challenge than he initially anticipated. "We're still learning how things work," he says. "A lot of people are looking for our product and not finding it, so we're working hard on that right now."The company hopes to have another series of cards out late next year. "It's going to take some time for the first series to catch on, but once it does, we'll do a new series every couple of months," says Riccio. "There are a lot of really funny cards and bands that we haven't done."

Silly CDs Climb the Charts at Retail

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