Tom Branna, Editorial Director05.03.13
Happi.com debuted in 1996 and we’ve been attracting visitors—now more than 50,000 each month—ever since. A few years ago, management decided to take the plunge and spend millions, okay thousands, to hire an online media consultant to rework, revamp and reinvigorate our websites. Our hired gun showed up dressed in black from head to toe with a bit of a faux hawk to boot. He was everything we weren’t and we hung on his every word. After all, a hipster must know everything about the Brave New World of the Worldwide Web, right? The result? A sharp looking site that was—like our consultant—draped in black. It was the Johnny Cash of websites, a veritable online Roy Orbison. Editors were pleased and the sales team cheered, but not every employee was happy with the new improved Happi.com.
“You can’t put the ENTIRE site in black,” cautioned our lone, in-house online guy who had been left out of the development process.
“Just shut up and do it,” we responded using somewhat gentler language.
Reluctantly, he did it. The big day came, the site was launched, and we sat back and waited for the accolades to pour in.
Comments arrived quickly, but not all of them were what we expected.
“I’m an old man,” said our first critic. “The new site is difficult to read.”
“Can’t print out an article,” complained another. “Your site uses up all my ink.”
Uh, oh. Happi.com, we have a problem. But by then, our consultant was off in cyberspace discovering new sites that needed his attention.
Fast forward a few years and Rodman Media, our parent company, has built its own strong team of programmers, led by our online director Paul Simansky, to tackle several redesigns among our 10 magazines. Now, it’s our turn and when you visit Happi.com, we think that you’ll be pleased with the results.
The new Happi.com is dynamic, cleaner, features bigger graphics and is user-friendly to help you find exactly what you need to create the next generation of personal care and household products. We hope you enjoy the new site. We welcome your comments…especially you long-suffering old-timers who’ve been squinting at the computer screen for the past few years.
Tom Branna
Editorial Director
tbranna@rodmanmedia.com
“You can’t put the ENTIRE site in black,” cautioned our lone, in-house online guy who had been left out of the development process.
“Just shut up and do it,” we responded using somewhat gentler language.
Reluctantly, he did it. The big day came, the site was launched, and we sat back and waited for the accolades to pour in.
Comments arrived quickly, but not all of them were what we expected.
“I’m an old man,” said our first critic. “The new site is difficult to read.”
“Can’t print out an article,” complained another. “Your site uses up all my ink.”
Uh, oh. Happi.com, we have a problem. But by then, our consultant was off in cyberspace discovering new sites that needed his attention.
Fast forward a few years and Rodman Media, our parent company, has built its own strong team of programmers, led by our online director Paul Simansky, to tackle several redesigns among our 10 magazines. Now, it’s our turn and when you visit Happi.com, we think that you’ll be pleased with the results.
The new Happi.com is dynamic, cleaner, features bigger graphics and is user-friendly to help you find exactly what you need to create the next generation of personal care and household products. We hope you enjoy the new site. We welcome your comments…especially you long-suffering old-timers who’ve been squinting at the computer screen for the past few years.
Tom Branna
Editorial Director
tbranna@rodmanmedia.com