It's been nearly a year since we last took you on a guided tour of the living Internet museum known as Braums.com. An ancient relic of the dial-up and AOL era, we highlighted many of the site's features, including e-postcards, the Braum's Kid's Zone and variety of fun and exciting desktop wall papers. Granted, you could only enjoy these experiences if you were on a computer equipped with Shockwave, but that shouldn't be a problem.
Anyway, we have some sad news for everyone. The museum is now closed. Braum's has launched a new website to get them through the next 15 years. From the OKC Egotist:
Braums finally upgraded their website, that looked like it was designed by a 13 year old in 1995. Thank Goodness. It was designed by OPUBCO, which has been expanding their design and marketing services the last couple years. With a little digging, discovered that Whitney Parker Martin was one of the key designers on the project.
The overall design isn't too exciting and we wouldn't deem it portfolio worthy. BUT it is a huge step for the company. We've all heard horror stories of working with Braums and how difficult it can be for them to create anything 'new,' which is why they've probably using the same commercial for the past 20 years. The site is legible, no crazy pink colors now. Easy to navigate and serves its purpose well. It's a definate upgrade. Now if only we can get them to upgrade their store interiors and maybe not use 20 photoshop filters on their posters.
I'm not honestly sure what to think about this. I kind of liked the fact that a company that nets millions of dollars in revenue a week had a website that was built by someone in FrontPage in 1998. Going to the Braums website really was like going into a time capsule. Now to get that experience, you'll just have to eat in the Braum's dining room. What a shame.
Another sad thing is that Braum's did away with all special site features like the e-cards, kid's coloring books and the cow pop art. For the past five years, Clark Matthews would always send me a Braum's e-postcard to celebrate every major holiday. Now he'll probably just send me more dirty pictures in Draw Something.
Now that they have a new site, you have to wonder what's next for Braum's. Maybe they'll take the bold step to include nutritional information on their website like every fast food chain in the world. Or maybe they'll stock their Butterfinger ice cream year round. That stuff is amazing.
