Remember trading your favourite sports cards with your friends back in school? Well, Adult Trading Card Company founder JP Berkman has given the trading card concept a new spin for the 21st century. Instead of your favourite sports stars on the cards, they are replaced by your some of the most popular porn stars today. Orgasm News’ Dave Kingsley spoke to JP Berkman about coming up with this novel idea, as well as the response from both the public and the porn Industry.

 

Dave Kingsley: Can you tell us a little about you and how you come up with the idea of Adult Trading Card Company?

JP Berkman: ATCC was founded on April fool’s day 2010. I was driving down the freeway on the phone with a friend discussing my already established printing business and saw a billboard for an adult convention [then] a light bulb went off. I told him I was going to start a trading card business for adult stars and he laughed thinking it was an April fool’s prank. He said… “Baseball cards for porn stars? Who would collect those?” And instantly his light bulb went turned on! My response was, “Who wouldn’t?” Performers sell 8×10′s, posters, but not trading cards.

 

All the merchandise performers had at the time was too bulky for them to carry around and let’s face it, whether you are married or single, where is that 8×10 or poster going to end up… In a box tucked away in the garage? Yes the performer makes the initial sale but the buck stops there. ATCC trading cards keeps the beautiful women they dream off right in the palm of their hand at all times!

 

They are small enough to conceal in your wallet, pocket, glove box or even in your cubicle at work! We place the performers website, and twitter [information] on the back of their cards so once the fan has their trading card, they will always have their info at the tip of their fingers. This means more money over and over again for the performers and keeps them always relevant in their fan’s minds.

 

The size also benefits the performers, instead of a huge suitcase of merchandise lugged around from airport to airport a box of 1000 trading cards fits in their purse!

 

These are all LIMITED EDITION trading cards. The performers buy them directly from us and sell them to their fans. We were accepted in an industry that is very small and tight knit. Everyone loves what we have created!

 

DK: What has been the reaction from both fans and collectors?

JP: The reaction was so amazing that we figured out a way to market performers even better and bring them more mainstream exposure. In early 2012 we came up with the idea that not only could we make the Trading cards directly for performers but we could make a trading card pack and get them in stores all over the country.

 

[We not only] branding ATCC but helping get new and established performers on the counter of sex shops, convenience stores, comic book stores, gas stations, car washes, truck stops etc… Again people thought we were crazy! How are we going to do that? You can’t do that! That’s what I constantly heard. All I did was smile and say watch me! We took a poll on twitter asking what people would want to see in a pack, what kind of special surprises. The majority of fans kept saying they wanted a piece of gum or a condom inside.

 

Well, we took that idea and made it better! Our SERIES 1 trading card packs have a total of 30 girls in the series with 5 random beautiful trading cards in each pack, but instead of a stale piece of gum or a condom we placed a packet of lube inside. Not just any lube, we contacted and teamed up with WET® lube! The fans and collectors FLIPPED out!!!

 

Guys kept emailing us praise, not only for the product but the fact that we are giving them an “all in one” product! I like to call it…”Jack off material with jack off material!” I am not embarrassed when I go to the store to buy condoms because I know I’m going to get some, but buying lube at the store means I may be having fun with “Rosie palm and her 5 sisters”.

 

DK: Congratulations on being a 2012 AVN award winner! How has this award increase awareness for ATCC?

JP: Thank you! I cannot tell you how honored we were to even be nominated for the AVN award. Never thought we would win, we were up against 9 other companies and 2 of which are major players in the industry. More than just awareness winning the AVN award gave us a stamp of approval. It made people realize that we are a legit, hard working company and we are here to not only stay but to revolutionize 2 industries in a way no one has seen before!

 

DK: Are you working with any Adult Film companies or Talent Agencies?

JP: We would love to partner up with some major companies and have talked with a couple. In the future we have some big things with planned with contract stars. We do work with talent agencies a lot. Their girls always need pictures and we provide their models with pictures so it’s a win/win for everyone.

 

DK: What has been the reaction from adult stars feature on the cards?

JP: Incredible! Who wouldn’t love being immortalized in print? We also hold a contest where 5 girls become the ATCC beauties that grace the front of the packs! For Series 1: Sophie Dee, Brooke Haven, Mariah Milano & Imani Rose each have their own cover on the front; And Alison Tyler graces the back of all the packs!

 

DK: What are some of your goals for ATCC in 2013?

JP: Total world domination! [laughs] No but seriously…we want to keep growing as a brand, get more and more distribution, and get SERIES 2 finalized and out for the fans/collectors to enjoy.

 

DK: You’ve been in business for over a year. What has been some of the positives and negatives you and your team have encountered?

JP: The haters are and will always be there. You have to take it and let them fuel the fire to rise above and succeed. Distribution has not been easy, having to prove to a product that has never been made and they have never seen. Most people don’t care about the potential they want numbers. So we have done it ourselves, we are in multiple 7/11′s, comic book stores and sex shops! Now some big players are looking at us.

 

DK: You have released the first series of cards already. How was the photographing process? And how do you select the girls that will have their own trading cards?

JP: We have some amazing photographers so that wasn’t an issue at all. The selection process is very difficult. It’s not just a pretty face we look for. ATCC beauties represent the brand as well as themselves so we strive to pick the very best. We have blackballed girls from the way they carry themselves on Twitter.

 

Professionalism is a must! We have a committee made up of 5 people that make the decision for who makes the pack and I am the 5th and deciding vote. After all I have a vision and it must be made a reality the way I see it: I’m a control freak [laughs]

 

DK: What has been the hardest card for collectors to find?

JP: Any of the ones that have sold out! Since they are limited edition once they are sold out they are NEVER printed again! As far as inside the pack we also place random autograph cards, I have heard from fans that the Courtney Cumms card and the Lizz Tayler “Rookie card” and hard to find.

 

 

DK: What has been your favorite part in starting your business?

JP: Seeing my vision come to life! Being accepted and appreciated by the adult industry. Reaching 18,000 followers on Twitter, working with so many amazing performers, photographers, just people in general. Designing the cards, packs, POP [point of purchase] displays. Watching the 1st packs be made and packaged and placed in the palm of my hand.

 

The conventions where the fans can tell us how much they love what we are doing. Essentially, everything! I have several small companies/businesses I’ve started but ATCC is by far the most rewarding to me because it was something that so many doubted and said could not be done.

 

DK: How have you positioned and marketed your product in the industry in order to garner maximum exposure?

JP: I’m a Twitter whore, enough said [laughs]

 

DK: Are you creating any one-off cards for those serious collectors out there?

JP: Yes we are…we can do anything! We have a lot of tricks up our sleeve for Series 2 as well.

 

DK: What have you learned from other businesses especially companies that are in the Sports Card Trading business?

JP: That it’s never easy. Hard work Always pays off. And some trade secrets that are helping us for series 2.

 

DK: What did you do before launching Adult Trading Cards? 

JP: What haven’t I done! I owned & operated my family’s restaurant for years. We started it back in 1982 and I worked there since I was 6. It gave me the freedom to created my own little businesses, everything from selling “super blow pops (blow pops with jolly rancher sticks wrapped around them)” in 6th grade to manufacturing and selling doormats with funny phrases on them like… “Solicitors shot on site!”

 

DK: The Second Series isn’t out yet. Can you tell fans and collectors what they can expect from that series?

JP: Expect the Unexpected!

 

DK: How and where can people order/buy Adult Trading Cards?

JP: www.ATCCompany.com just click on the store Tab. 7/11 stores and Romatix sex shops. These are the biggest and best places to find us. But Please make it known to you local shops that you want them to carry ATCC trading cards to help our total world domination possible!

 

DK: Thanks for your time JP and best of luck!