When Just For Laughs president Andy Nulman begins singing the heavy metal ballad “Winds of Change” during a media interview, it’s clear he’s not your typical business executive.
Nulman is talking about the winds of change that are sweeping through the iconic comedy brand, beginning with a total overhaul of its website – HaHaHa.com – developed by digital agency Twist Image.
“The impetus for this was our previous site was shit,” said Nulman bluntly, when asked why he wanted a new site. “It had nothing that anybody needed; it was hard to understand, it didn’t give information on shows, it didn’t give information on where, when and how, and it was dull.
“The only way it could have been any worse is if it linked to somebody else’s site.”
Nulman was CEO of Just For Laughs until 1999, when he left to establish mobile media company Airborne Mobile. Upon returning to Just For Laughs last summer, his two main priorities were transforming the nearly 30-year-old brand into a digital company and selling more tickets. A rebranding of the website was “imperative,” he said.
Twist Image president Mitch Joel had previously worked with Nulman at Airborne. “They’re incredibly competent but more importantly, I knew I was working with friends,” said Nulman of Twist Image. “These guys I knew for sure would never let me down.”
The mandate given to Twist Image was to capture what Nulman calls the “lunacy” of comedy festivals while not neglecting the site’s main purpose of providing information and selling tickets.
No element of the Just For Laughs site has been left untouched by the revamp. It occasionally loads upside down, sprouts hair and even swears at visitors. At the bottom of the screen there’s an invite to users to “subscribe to our stupid newsletter.”
To hear Nulman tell it, the site could well be the product of consumption of banned substances. “There were a couple of very testy meetings where I said ‘Guys you aren’t getting it.’ I spoke to the two creative guys, who delivered something really dull, and said ‘Guys, do you take drugs? If you take drugs, take a whole bunch over the weekend then sit down and brainstorm. That’s the type of site I want. I don’t want you to sit in a goddamn boardroom.’
“Then they turned it around,” said Nulman. “There’s never anything that’s common or standard [about the site].”
Nulman called the revamped site a microcosm of “the massive winds of change sweeping through this company.” Company cheques now feature jokes, for instance, while sets have been revamped. “I’ve even changed the way I dress,” said Nulman.
“The site is our worldwide entry door, and if the door to your home is dull and dreary, nobody’s going to want to come in,” he said. “It’s not a website – it’s content, it’s spirit, it’s brand, a sales tool. I think of it as a major pillar in what we’re trying to do as a company.”
Just For Laughs has also revamped its YouTube channel – work that was done in-house by the company’s digital head Parisa Foster – and plans to launch a mobile app for Android devices and the iPhone next month.
