The Most Underrated Marketing Move of 2026: Physical Collectibles
Why tangible, scarce objects are winning
Hey friends!
In this video, I walk through why collecting is becoming a core lifestyle behavior, and how brands, creators, and businesses of every size can use collectibles to drive community, differentiation, and growth in 2026 and beyond.
Collecting Is Becoming a Core Lifestyle Behavior
One of the biggest opportunities most people are sleeping on in 2026 and beyond is using collectibles — and collectibles strategy — as marketing to enhance their relationship with current consumers, open up new audiences, and find new revenue streams. What’s most exciting is, whether you’re a mom-and-pop single creator, VC-backed, or listed on the New York Stock Exchange, this matters to you and your business.
We’re in a new game. I think a lot of people think this is an anomaly or a one-off, but I think this is just the preview: Collecting is joining fashion, music, sports, in the lifestyle genre game. Everyone is collecting something, and I really see that accelerating five to 10 years from now.
People are genuinely interested in these things. For me, I’d rather own a trading card or a comic book and have that go up in value than own a stock in, say, Tesla. One hundred shares of a stock like Tesla isn’t as interesting to me as one rare rookie card or a collectible. It has extra value, right?
Look at what Hershey’s did recently with Pokémon. People will have collectibles for monetary value, but I think Fortune 500 companies are going to start using collectibles to drive their day-to-day business.
When you layer these collectibles into fractionalization, you start talking about what the blockchain can actually do instead of just speculating. People will realize, I’m going to sell the ownership of this $9 million comic book in fractional shares, and it’s going to be worth $17 million. People like me might not put up $9 million, but maybe they’ll put up $100,000. Someone might put up a $1.
Video games are also emerging as collectibles. A Fortnite collectible sold for $40,000 the other day. This is a new game. I think people are underestimating this overarching collectible insurgence. This will be activated by Fortune 500 companies to sell their day-to-day products.
The best way to sell a bunch of cereal right now is to put a collectible in it like it’s 1965. I think for big names like Kellogg’s, Hostess, Pepsi, and Coca-Cola, they will wake up to this trend. It’s fun, too! People are looking for more joy, right? There’s a lot going on in the world, and this is a fun place for people and it creates community. Look at Comic-Con. The whole revenge of the nerds thing? It’s here.
And this isn’t new. Hostess, yes, the cupcakes, were putting baseball and sports cards in their packaging to sell cupcakes in the ’70s, and now some sell for thousands of dollars. Local breweries — big shout out to my dad and our liquor store days — have teamed up with artists, local sports teams, and other IP to create limited edition bottles and cans. Today, many sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars on eBay.
Collectibles as Communication and Status
Reason number one is communication and the way humans communicate.
Why did fashion get big? We use what we wear to communicate to others. When you wear a certain pair of sneakers and someone sees that that’s in the know — if you know, you know (or “IYKYK”) — they give you the little hat tip, the little wink. When a woman sees someone walk by with a rare handbag, they both know.
Why am I wearing this hat? Why do we post when we’re on vacation? Why do we want Mercedes Benz and BMW cars? We’ve been badging for communication.
Why do people put bumper stickers like, “Proud mom of a straight-A student”? What are we doing? We’re peacocking. We’re communicating. Why do I wear Jets stuff? Because I want to connect with Jets communities. Why does everybody go to Comic Con? Because nerds unite.
Collectibles are the new stature. It’s the new thing, just like paintings in a home, your sports card collection, or your rare toy. Collectibles are now a community.
The Difference Between a Tchotchke and a Collectibles Strategy
Anyone that sells something — especially business-to-consumer— has a collectible opportunity.
Many brands overproduce their collectible, though. If a brand just produces a SpongeBob collectible, for example, and just put it in the item they sell, that’s a little tchotchke inside. That’s not a collectibles strategy.
Other brands make the mistake of adding only one rare collectible in their thousands of packages, and only a few buyers will actually get it. They do a Willy Wonka thing. But everyone knows they’re not going to be the win who gets the one. So, you use tiers. Maybe you have seven types of SpongeBob toys: 50,000 black toys, 10,000 red, 5,000 green, then only 25 gold and five silver.
You must be thoughtful. Are you following a trend or are you building something with a community and a strong strategy? How do you extend the story? How do you launch it? Are you going live on TikTok? Do you use influencers? Do you do podcasts about it? You do all of it.
A Modern Brand Example: Delta
What if Delta, for a month, shared that if you book a first class airline ticket, you get this limited edition DVD from Bon Jovi. That’s a rare collectible, and (for example) only the first 10,000 are sold.
When I get to my seat and it’s there, maybe with some content from Bon Jovi on the TV screen in front of me, you’re starting to build experience. You’re giving people differentiation. As someone who flies every airline because I’m always booked by the people that have me speaking, this could become a reason why I choose Delta. Just an example.
Collectibles as a Trial and Affinity Lever
Now that’s an airline. What if you’re cereal? Remember toys when we were kids? What if you’re a commodity? A deodorant? A shampoo? A razor? A band aid? Vaseline? A cupcake?
You start adding collectibles inside these packages. You’re getting the affinity of people that collect Pokémon, VeeFriends cards and VeeFriends comics, He-Man, Labubu, Hello Kitty, Lisa Frank art. But you’re also getting collectors.
For example, I’m a little collector of Pokémon. It’s not my driver, but if I knew that I’m getting a collectible Pokémon sticker buying this cereal versus that cereal, that becomes a differentiation. I might have never had that cereal before, but maybe I buy it for the Pokémon. And yes, some people do buy a bunch of products and throw away the product for the collectible, but don’t get caught up on that.
If I try that cereal and I like it, now I’ve used a collectible as a trial lever. This happened quite a bit in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s. Somewhere around the ’80s and ’90s, and definitely into the 2000s, we got too academic and fancy in marketing. We looked at this as cheesy tchotchke, when in reality it’s now the biggest opportunity for anyone selling something.
Segmenting Collectibles by Audience
Segmenting collectibles is especially valuable for brands that understand they can do many things. For example, you have a collectible for moms on the coast. Here’s one for youth in Middle America. Here’s one for people into skateboarding. Here’s one for people who are into cooking. You become a brand that’s fully collectible-oriented.
Collectibles as an overlay to bring consideration and affinity into your product is a massive opportunity.
Warning: Don’t Add Friction
Warning: No bullshit QR codes. No scratch, redeem. All that friction you guys create is not necessary. Invest in the cost of goods and make it easy.
Marketers get too cute with this. You try to drive down costs. Meanwhile, you’re happy to waste money on television and random stuff. Make it easy for the consumer to get the collectible.
For example, Ulta Beauty has a simple, limited edition collectible beauty thing, at the store, in the bag.
Interest Media Changes Everything
Why is this a huge opportunity now and not before? Interest media.
Social media is evolving into interest media. Your feed is now what you’re into, not who you follow. You make a deal with Tony Hawk. You do a limited edition figurine. There are 50 different ones to collect. Some are silver, some gold. When you do your marketing on social, people into Tony Hawk and skateboarding see that content.
You are using the creative collectible overlay to create relevance and interest in your product because the algorithms know who to put that content in front of. That’s insane.
Why is this all happening? The internet. eBay in the late ’90s got me into this. Now it’s StockX, live shopping, Whatnot, Fanatics Live, eBay Live, and YouTube channels. The landscape of flipping has changed.
The 2017 Flip Challenge was about this. People don’t realize how easy it is to buy and resell. Now with live shopping, you can do a show from your house and do a virtual garage sale.
Lightning Round: Real Examples
A few more examples:
Say John Deere wants to reach millennial homebuyers romanticizing farm life. I’m probably making limited edition cassettes with country artists. There are regular, silver, gold, platinum. One is signed. One gets backstage access. You market it aggressively.
A local gym in Austin wants to reach older Gen Z. I go to five fitness influencers. We make sticker packs, which cost less than a buck to make. It’s free to anyone who signs up for the gym.
The influencers are flattered. They now have a collectible. You turn business influencers into celebrities.
J.Crew wants Gen Z on the West Coast interested in luxury. Run a limited edition live social shopping item, sell out 1,000 units, clip the content, and create a halo effect.
A local hair salon in LA wants men into trendy haircuts. I’d do a rookie card of a high school football star or emerging athlete. Come three times to get the collectible. You’re incentivizing behavior: People want the collectible.
Final Thought
As we go into 2027, 2028, 2029 and beyond, collecting is continuing to grow. Every Fortune 500 company should worry about this and every small business should think about it. It’s harder with fewer resources. It might be a distraction. But it’s worth flirting with. Because once you learn, you learn.
Collectibles as a lifestyle genre are now going from the minor leagues to the major leagues, and that will have a massive impact on just about every consumer brand in the world.
If you enjoyed this article, reply with your thoughts!
Ha! I just left a long comment on your other note and THEN found this! Thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to dig in!
Physical scarcity is back!