Punch Drunk moved its entire decade-old company website to Super and Notion to more effectively display its diverse clientele and projects. The new content workflow allows anyone on the team to update the website, regardless of web design experience.
Punch Drunk is a live multi-camera broadcast and production company founded by Jacob Stone. The company has grown over the years, working with large and small businesses and non-profits, and has recently moved away from WordPress to Notion and Super for a more modern, faster, and customizable website showcase the brand’s wide range of projects.
About Punch Drunk
- Launched in 1998
- Sector: Video and Events Services
- Bio: A live multi-camera broadcast and production company that covers events of different types, serving brands and non-profits alike
Key results with Super
- Created a sophisticated digital brand image
- Turned website management into an enjoyable, frictionless experience
- Eliminated the need for an in-house designer
- Enabled a lightning-fast experience for website visitors
A website that embodies the dynamic essence of Punch Drunk’s brand
Founded by Jacob Stone in 1998, Punch Drunk is a live multi-camera production and broadcast company. It covers live music festivals, concerts, galas, trade shows, and more. Today, Punch Drunk helps capture and broadcast content for non-profits, small brands, and corporations like Amazon, Google, and YouTube.
Having founded the company in high school, Jacob has spent years building the brand's reputation by networking and getting involved in the community. That's why most of the work Punch Drunk receives comes from referrals and word of mouth.
The brand's website primarily focuses on presenting a professional image rather than making online sales. It is designed to showcase the company's extensive portfolio, reflecting the diverse range of clients it can serve.
"Our website has always been more of a credibility tool for someone interested in working with us or knowing what we do," Jacob says.
"It's vitally important that the website provides all of that information. "
Jacob had a hard time finding the perfect website platform over the years. Still, he knew he needed something fast, reliable, and flexible enough to work for his vibrant brand.
"The combination of Super and Notion have empowered us to take our website from a flat brochure to a living, functioning system." — Jacob Stone, the founder of Punch Drunk
Prioritizing functionality over complex design features
Jacob built the company's first website himself after learning HTML and CSS. A few years later, he migrated to WordPress to experiment with web design possibilities.
"WordPress was a big game changer," he says. "The framework allowed you to create dynamic content, posts, and pages. Although great at first, WordPress eventually became cumbersome, bloated, and difficult."
Punch Drunk went through various WordPress templates over the years. Still, the engine couldn't keep up with Jacob's vision for the company's digital identity.
"It became difficult to do what we wanted. The slow loading and everything else got me exasperated with WordPress, and I began looking for another solution."
"In comparison, Notion is such a perfectly blank canvas upon which you can build. But, of course, it lacks some functionality and polished design that Super provides."
Seeing Notion's functional possibilities, Jacob knew he wanted an alternative for his brand's website even before using Super.
"I will forgo aesthetics for the sake of practicality. Like being able to quickly create, edit, and publish pages without the hassle of extensive bug checking and maintaining website design," Jacob says.
"To do something like this in WordPress would be cumbersome and fraught with potential rendering problems.”
Breaking down the barriers of web design for all employees
After migrating his company's content to Notion, Jacob sought to tailor the website to align with his brand's identity. Meanwhile, having the ability for him and his team to make instant changes to the website was crucial.
"We don't have an in-house designer. The team and I needed something we could easily create and update. As well as the ability to quickly access a resources section and add something without the team needing any HTML design."
The switch to Notion and Super has reduced the learning curve for Jacob's team. He can now confidently ask anyone on his team to add content to the website without causing issues to the site's structure.
"My team works in video production. They know how to set up a camera and interview someone, light a subject, or stream an event, but they're not web designers."
"What I like about Super is its hands-off approach," Jacob says.
"Once the website is set up, Super acts as a seamless layer that allows everyone to continue working within their usual workflow in Notion.
"That's one of the remarkable things about Super – in a way, it's analogous to how CSS separates style from content. In this case, Super separates the style from content and Notion."
Website management has become cheaper, easier, and frictionless
Jacob found the website's simplicity and speed the biggest transformation for his business. The website became an asset he could easily edit instead of something he was reluctant to revisit and update.
"I would have to hire a designer and spend a lot of time reviewing all the current modules and the site structure for any significant updates," Jacob says.
"With Super in Notion, I can simply duplicate a page that looks like the one I want. Until I review the formatting, I can put it in a password-protected section of the site. I can then use all the Notion capabilities to create grids, columns, and add images."
Punch Drunk has also been able to quickly deploy new business additions thanks to the powerful embed options offered by Notion. Like duplicating an existing website page to use its structure with an added Tally form to send to contractors for simpler invoicing.
Looking at the brand's website, Jacob believes nobody could tell they built it on Notion.
"And it's fast. I have an automated query GTmetrix that tests the website's speed, and the results I receive exceed those I got with WordPress.
"The new website still has just as much content. In fact, we hired a designer for custom artwork, and I uploaded the high-resolution files immediately. I didn't even have to resize the images because the website is still super fast.
"It works great."
How to make a website like Punch Drunk’s
Jacob has all his content in Notion, and has linked this to a Super site. Then using a combination of custom CSS and graphics provided by a graphic designer, has customised the site to fit the brand strategy.
You can do something like this yourself if you know CSS. If you need to work with a designer to help with the code, then join our community or Discord to look for people who can help.
Prefer to build your site yourself with no-code? You can start with one of our pre-made templates or style your site with the Design tools inside Super.
