MAKING AMERICANA
Beckett/Non-Sport Update Editorial Director Mike Payne was previously a brand manager for Donruss, and later Panini, and explains the mission behind these sets, “It was to tap into the worldwide interest in pop culture and the vintage entertainment field. Entertainment, Politics and Science could collide with the right checklist, which means a balance of A Listers and other “listers” however you want to rank them. Some of these deals were with representatives for deceased celebrities allowing for the creation of memorabilia cards such as with Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart and so many others. It added a lot to Americana. The late Ben Ecklar, who headed up those Americana sets, also wanted to sincerely make the best trading card he could with the resources he had. He, as much as anyone, is responsible for the look, feel and success the cards had.”
Aik Tongtharadol, a current Brand Manager for Panini, explains how the rare cards for the sets were acquired, “Autographs were generally done through the celebrities themselves or through their agents/agencies. Like autographs, the most common source of memorabilia was directly through the celebrity. We also utilized specific sources for vintage items with certified authenticity.”
Payne explains where the images for the cards came from, “We had photo deals with a couple of different sources, so that made image acquisitions fairly easy. I don’t think there were any real nightmares in that part of the process. Maybe a challenge here and there, but nothing that caused us to have to cut someone from the set.”
These remarkable sets cover so much ground that it can be daunting trying to comprehend how they were assembled. Tongthradol explains, “Americana programs could easily take 6-8 months to develop, if not longer. Time is needed to secure an image/autograph deal with each person in the set as well as the assets. A good amount of time was devoted to finding the right items to make each set unique.”