PROMO FLYERS AND CARDS

Similar to Sale Sheets, distributors were provided with a variety of different Promotional Materials prior to a series release. These items would provide details and information about upcoming releases/etc. From FLYERS to BROCHURES to PROMO CARDS…this page has all you need to know about this fun and unique collectible!

LINE-UP OF STARS

Back in the 1985, Topps issued a series of 'Line-Up of Stars' promo sheets. These 8.5" x 11", 2-sided sheets were intended to aide the merchants in the ordering of their products. On the front of the sheet, Topps would put small images of their products. On the reverse side of the sheet was an order form, containing a separate line for each item displayed on the front.

Topps used this method to advertise Garbage Pail Kids Series 1 on three different sheets. These three sheets were colored Red, Blue and Green, and I am lucky to have all 3 of them in my collection.

ANS PROMO BROCHURES

When Topps decided to start up Garbage Pail Kids again in 2003, they sent dealers a promo (press) kit for All-New Series 1. This featured a letter, sample sheet, and a full-color, 4-page folder-style, flyer. The flyer had images of some of the cards from the series as well as a lot of 'hype' for the re-release. The format proved to be a successful way for Topps to publicize their upcoming releases, so they continued to do it (in some form or another) for each of the All-New Series releases.

Below are the front covers of each of the flyers from the ANS1 to ANS7

EXCELL DISPLAY SHEETS

'Excell Display Sheets' are 8.5" x 11", 1-sided sheets that were issued to stores (Target, etc) to aid in the displaying of All-New Series GPK Releases. They feature an image of the box on display, as well as location information, display dates, etc. To my knowledge, these were only issued for ANS1 through ANS4, as I have never seen anything for ANS5 or later. I have the sheets for ANS1 through ANS4 in my collection.

A note on the ANS4 sheets...although it looks like two of the same sheet, if you look closely you can see the 'var' sheet was printed with the Upper Deck logo next to the box as opposed to the Topps logo.

PRODUCT RELEASE SALES PLANS

Product Release Sales Plans were basically PowerPoint presentations that were put together with the intention of advertising and promoting an upcoming Series release. These digital documents were posted on websites and mailed to merchants to both educate prospective buyers and also hype the future release.

The amount of information included in these documents was fairly extensive, and would later be paired down to a more succinct (and visually-pleasing) 'Sale Sheet'

Click on the hyperlinks below the thumbnails below to view the full .pdf version of the sales plan

MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS

Part of the ad campaign for All-New Series 1 was a full-page advertisement in MAD Magazine, combined with 3 stickers from the upcoming release. The ad featured a couple characters from ANS1 and a glimpse at the 'mini' gum-stickers...but the best part of the advertisement was that purchasers of the magazine received 3 stickers.

The back of the sticker sheet featured a complete checklist for the All-New Series 1 release

PROMO CARDS

Starting with All-New Series 3, Topps used 'Promo' cards to hype an upcoming release. The sticker cards feature a character used in the upcoming series on the front, and a 'Coming Soon' type display on the back with some general information as to when the series was to be released. These cards were not sold by Topps, rather they were generally distributed at large events like the San Diego Comic Con in an effort to get the word out to as many people as possible. Topps issued Promos for ANS3, 5, 6, and 7.

Topps broke their 'promo-silence' in a big way late 2013 when they released two (heavily-white-bordered?) promo cards. These were initially intended to be distributed at the Philly Non Sports Card Show, but due to a printing error they were eventually distributed via a mailing list. There were a few MiniKins cards that were found being handed out at the NYCC. The backs of each card contain release-info for the respective series.

In the summer of 2014 Garbage Pail Kids were riding high and as popular as ever...and Topps definitely recognized this. After skipping the event for a number of years they decided to make an appearance at SDCC, and bring with them a number of Garbage Pail Kids exclusives. One of these hard-to-get items was the Promo Card for 2014 Series 2. This lead to an onslaught of Promos that were handed out at NYCC, Philly Non Sport Show, Comikaze Expo, etc.

Topps also decided to promo their Comic Book (released December 2014) with a couple of Promo Cards. These were handed out at the NYCC and Philly shows, and featured the final artwork Mark Pingitore painted for the cover of Issue #1.