Topps Disney Collect Brings a Gamified Fantasy World to Life
The Disney Collect campaign by Topps is a 2023 digital and film campaign produced by Project Lab that invites consumers in Georgia and the United States to travel through a fantasy world alongside Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Disney's fairy tale princesses, completing tasks to discover beloved characters and build a gamified collectible experience.
Published on February 21, 2023, the campaign operates at the intersection of the gaming, toys, and consumer durables categories, translating the tactile appeal of physical card collecting into an interactive digital narrative. Rather than presenting a straightforward product demonstration, the work builds a storyworld: a curious protagonist journeys through enchanted environments, encounters iconic characters, and advances through challenge-based mechanics familiar to gaming audiences. The single media asset — delivered across digital and film channels — concentrates this narrative into one cohesive creative statement.
Topps launched the Disney Collect! by Topps app in 2020, and per platform records documented by d23.com, the app enabled users to collect and trade Disney character collectibles, complete missions, and access limited character-themed content releases. The 2023 campaign, directed by commercial director Giorgi Lolua of Project Lab, functions as a promotional extension of that ecosystem, deepening consumer engagement with the platform's established mechanics. Project Lab is based in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the campaign carries dual-market relevance across Georgia and the United States — two geographically and culturally distinct territories united by their appetite for IP-driven collectible entertainment. The Clapboard Score for this campaign is 53 out of 100, reflecting competent execution of a licensed IP framework within a constrained single-asset format.
Topps holds an estimated 24.03% global market share in the trading cards segment for 2023, according to giiresearch.com. That position places it second behind Panini, which held an estimated 33.17% global share in the same period per giiresearch.com, with Upper Deck Company accounting for an estimated 12.08%, also per giiresearch.com. Together, these three competitors represented approximately 69.28% of the 2023 global trading card market, according to giiresearch.com, establishing a competitive landscape in which differentiation through intellectual property and digital engagement carries significant strategic weight.
The global trading cards market was estimated at approximately 7.08 billion US dollars in 2023 and projected to reach approximately 14.94 billion US dollars by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 10.67% for the period 2024 to 2030, according to giiresearch.com. Within this expanding market, Topps' strategy of fusing physical collectibles with app-based gameplay reflects a broader industry movement toward hybrid experiences. In the United States, the collector base for licensed character cards has deepened significantly in the years following the pandemic-era surge in trading card interest, a trend widely reported by outlets including Si and toybook.com.
The Disney Collect campaign addresses a consumer who sits at the overlap of gaming culture and nostalgic fandom. In Georgia and across the US market, Disney IP carries multigenerational resonance, allowing Topps and Project Lab to appeal simultaneously to adult collectors who grew up with Mickey Mouse and Goofy and to younger audiences encountering these characters through digital-first platforms. The campaign's task-completion mechanic mirrors the loop structures familiar from mobile gaming, lowering the barrier to entry for consumers who may not identify primarily as card collectors but who readily engage with character-driven gameplay. This strategic positioning distinguishes the campaign from pure product advertising and moves it closer to branded entertainment.
Giorgi Lolua directed the Disney Collect campaign for Topps under the Project Lab banner, with the creative team also including creative director Sandro Khundzakishvili, art director Ilia Kobakhidze, and Giorgi Lolua serving additionally as producer and executive project manager. The campaign's entire creative output is concentrated in a single media asset, a discipline that demands economy of storytelling and visual clarity.
The creative approach draws on fantasy adventure conventions and the recognisable visual language of Disney's animated universe. Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and an ensemble of fairy tale princesses appear as waypoints and rewards within the campaign's narrative logic, each character functioning as both emotional anchor and gameplay incentive. The production deploys these elements within a film and digital format, suggesting a polished animated or hybrid live-action aesthetic suited to the gaming and toys categories. By framing the consumer as a traveller rather than a buyer — someone who journeys, completes tasks, and discovers heroes — the creative team transforms a commercial message into an experiential proposition.
Project Lab's base in Tbilisi, Georgia gives the campaign a distinct production origin that connects to its primary Georgian market distribution while simultaneously speaking to the broader United States audience. The use of a fantasy world structure rather than a literal product walkthrough reflects the agency's understanding that licensed IP campaigns succeed when they honour the emotional weight of their source material. Disney's characters arrive carrying decades of narrative context; the campaign's craft lies in channelling that context into a forward-moving, gamified invitation rather than a retrospective celebration. The result is a piece of branded film content that earns its Disney association by committing fully to the immersive logic those characters demand.
Campaign archive data recorded 757 views, 3 likes, and 0 comments on the Disney Collect asset at the time of data collection. No independently verified performance data — including app download lifts, in-app engagement metrics, or sales figures attributable to the February 2023 campaign — is publicly available for this work.
Structural analysis, however, identifies several elements that support downstream effectiveness. The campaign's single-asset format reduces production complexity and focuses audience attention on one coherent narrative, a practical discipline for a dual-market release spanning Georgia and the United States. The gamified task-completion premise maps directly onto the Disney Collect! by Topps app's existing mechanics, which per d23.com include mission completion, character discovery, and limited content releases — meaning the campaign's creative logic and the product's functional logic are closely aligned. That alignment reduces cognitive distance between viewing the ad and taking the desired in-app action.
In the United States, where Topps competes against Panini and Upper Deck Company for collector attention across an expanding market documented by giiresearch.com, campaigns that deepen emotional investment in a specific IP ecosystem carry compound value: they serve both acquisition and retention goals simultaneously. In Georgia, where Project Lab operates and where the campaign was also distributed, the work establishes Topps as a brand willing to invest in locally produced, globally licensed creative — a positioning signal with long-term brand equity implications. The Clapboard Score of 53 out of 100 reflects a campaign that executes its licensed IP brief competently within the constraints of a single media asset, while leaving measurable headroom for deeper storytelling and broader channel deployment.
The Disney Collect campaign is a 2023 digital and film advertisement created by Project Lab for Topps. It invites consumers in Georgia and the United States to journey through a fantasy world featuring Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Disney princesses, completing tasks to discover characters within Topps' gamified collectible app ecosystem.
Giorgi Lolua directed the Disney Collect campaign in his role as commercial director at Project Lab. He also served as producer and executive project manager. The creative team additionally included creative director Sandro Khundzakishvili and art director Ilia Kobakhidze, all working out of Project Lab's base in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The Disney Collect campaign by Topps ran across Georgia and the United States following its February 21, 2023 publication. Project Lab, based in Tbilisi, Georgia, produced the campaign, giving it dual-market relevance — connecting its local Georgian production origin to the larger United States collector and gaming audience.
The 2023 Disney Collect campaign promotes the Disney Collect! by Topps app, launched in 2020 according to d23.com. The app allows users to collect and trade Disney character collectibles, complete missions, and access limited content. The campaign's task-completion narrative mirrors the app's core mechanics, aligning creative logic with the product's actual functionality.
The Disney Collect campaign by Topps receives a Clapboard Score of 53 out of 100. The score reflects competent execution of a licensed Disney IP brief within a constrained single-asset format, with structural strengths in narrative-product alignment and dual-market relevance, balanced against limited measurable reach data and channel deployment scope.
Topps' primary competitors in trading cards are Panini and Upper Deck Company. According to giiresearch.com, Panini held approximately 33.17% global market share in 2023, Topps held approximately 24.03%, and Upper Deck held approximately 12.08%. Together the three brands represented roughly 69.28% of the global trading card market that year.
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