SkyBox International

SkyBox International Inc., formerly Impel Marketing, was an American trading card manufacturing company based in Durham, North Carolina started in 1989 and operated until 1995.

SkyBox International Inc.
FormerlyImpel Marketing
TypePublic corporation
Industrytrading cards
Genresports
entertainment
Fatemerger
SuccessorFleer/SkyBox International
Founded1989 (1989)
Defunct1995 (1995)
Headquarters
Durham, North Carolina
,
US
Productstrading cards
milk caps
BrandsSkyBox
SkyCaps
Parent

History

Impel Marketing

In 1990, The Liggett Group Inc., a U.S. tobacco company, announced it would change its name to Brooke Group Ltd. and split into two subsidiaries, Liggett Group Inc. and Impel Marketing Inc. Liggett covered the tobacco business, while Impel covered its non-tobacco activities. At the time of the announcement, the company had small businesses in collectible football and basketball cards as well as confectionery products, both of which used the same distribution channels as cigarettes.[1] Impel was to be headquartered in Durham, North Carolina and was expected to broaden the scope of the company's sports and entertainment business.[1]

Skybox

Impel Marketing changed its name to SkyBox International Inc. in April 1992.[2] That same year, the company appointed Magic Johnson as its spokesperson.[3] In June 1993, SkyBox started making milk caps under the name SkyCaps beginning with DC SkyCaps.[4] Later that year, Brooke Group, Inc. spun SkyBox off as a NASDAQ traded public company.[5]

On March 10, 1995, Marvel Entertainment Group, a comic book publisher and maker of Fleer baseball and hockey cards, purchased SkyBox for $150 million and was completed two months later in May.[6][7][8][9] Marvel merged SkyBox and Fleer as Fleer/SkyBox International and was later sold to Alex Grass and his son, Roger Grass in February 1999.[10]

Products

SkyBox produced many licensed non-sports trading cards, including sets for Disney (1995),[11] Star Trek (since 1993) and Marvel Comics (2010).[12] SkyBox also produced SkyCaps, its milk caps games brand.[4] Cap series included DC Comics characters, Jurassic Park, Batman: Knightfall, and a National Football League series.[4]

One of the first card companies on the Internet, SkyBox branched into multimedia, producing CD-ROM collectibles and games. With Skyborg: Into the Vortex, the company stated, "SkyBox is well-known for its marketing and technological innovations, of which this first-ever interactive, multimedia card line, which is also SkyBox's first CD-ROM product, is only the most recent example."

References
  1. Ramirez, Anthony (June 22, 1990). "Liggett to Change Its Focus With Shift From Cigarettes". The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  2. "Company Briefs". The New York Times. April 16, 1992. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  3. Elliott, Stuart (April 21, 1992). "The Media Business - Advertising - Addenda - Miscellany". The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  4. "Will Cardboard Caps From Milk Bottles Become Cream Of All". Hartford Courant. July 26, 1993. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  5. Norris, Floyd (October 8, 1993). "Market Place; The Brooke Group thinks more of a spinoff than the market does". The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  6. "Other News". Los Angeles Times. March 10, 1995. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  7. "Marvel Entertainment Agrees To Buy Skybox Deal May Strengthen Marvel's Spot In Trading Card Business". The Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. March 10, 1995. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  8. "COMPANY NEWS: MARVEL TO BUY RIVAL TRADING-CARD MAKER". The New York Times. Reuters. March 10, 1995. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  9. "MARVEL COMPLETES SKYBOX PURCHASE". Chicago Tribune. May 3, 1995. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  10. "Fleer/Skybox Sale Finally Goes Through". The Philadelphia Inquirer. February 4, 1999. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  11. Sky Box Disney on Collectors.com
  12. Marvel 70th anniversary trading cards on Scifihobby.com
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