This article originally ran in the July 2014 issue of AVN.
When TLA Entertainment selected Maddy O'Reilly to be its herald, she was expected to have plenty of news to trumpet out in the near future, including the winner of TLA's Battle of the Superstars (Siri took the crown). But it turned out that the biggest announcement was a major rebrand of TLA's straight adult division that merged the TLARaw.com retail website and direct mail catalog with the adult entertainment blog Popporn.com.
Founded in 2008, TLA's PopPorn.com blog set out to provide an alternative, humorous perspective on the adult industry provided by contributors Brian Bangs, Spock Buckton and Meat Ball.
The merger of these two sites came on the heels of TLA's acquisition in January by investment group Sterling Genesis and the promotion of Brian Sokel to executive director of all retail divisions.
"TLA has had an unbelievable revitalization over the last three months," Sokel said in a company release. "The acquisition led to reinvigoration and fresh investment in our business, allowing us to rethink our brand in the straight adult marketplace. It's only logical to merge our shopping site with our blog into one perfect adult entertainment destination under the name that most closely matches who we are: PopPorn—the perfect blend of pop entertainment, nudity, porn and more."
The TLA Raw direct mail catalog will also be rebranded, and orders will continue to be shipped in discreet packaging. The gay retail division TLAgay.com was unaffected by the change.
AVN asked Sokel some questions about the big change, including what kind of reaction the change had elicited. "The response has been great thus far," Sokel said. "I think it's one of those changes that happens where people think to themselves, 'Duh, why didn't that happen sooner?' We've gotten numerous letters of support from customers and industry insiders as well because it's a name that sticks. It creates a common, easily identified destination for all things adult entertainment oriented."
The new brand name fits the tone cultivated on the TLA Raw site, with its entertaining write-ups on porn and pleasure products alike. But behind the clever blurbs and blog posts stands a company that is all about selling adult content. "Our goal is always to provide fun and unique entertainment for porn fans and consumers. This re-branding was primarily for them," Sokel said. "But, as a brand, PopPorn is more widely recognized in the industry as a fun and unique destination. Letting those in the business know that, 'While we make goofy videos that help promote your brand or studio, we also just sold 1,000 copies of your DVDs to our customers' is an important piece of information."
Sokel assured AVN that Buckton and Bangs will continue to be a primary creative force at PopPorn. "Along with Meat Ball, who handles the editing of our videos, the original group is still intact working on some pretty great things. In addition, we've added some new writers at PopPorn to help extend the diversity of content we offer on the blog."
Could those great things include adult movies from the team that created the multiple-award-nominated effort PopPorn: The Guide to Making Fuck with Zero Tolerance Entertainment?
"Yes, we will return to content production very soon," Sokel revealed. "In fact, we're planning a series of star-focused releases that will allow us to film original content for our blog but also sell directly to our customers. This will be a very big bonus for our shoppers that we think will continue to establish us as a unique shopping and editorial destination."
When asked whether there were any partnerships with other companies ahead, Sokel allowed, "As for working for third-party studios, we will certainly continue to explore opportunities that make sense."
