FUNZINE has been on the market for more than a decade. To recall some of the most important moments of the company’s life, we interviewed Managing Director Krisztina Kovács.
When did the idea of FUNZINE come to life?
The concept was born back in 2005, about one year before establishing the company. I was working for multinational companies for years in an international environment, where I could see that there was such a demand for this kind of a magazine. On the other hand, that was the time when some of the festivals started to attract more and more foreign people, the expat communities seemed to be expanding, just like the number of tourists were increasing as well. We wanted to create a useful guide to those who would like to discover Budapest, either by coming to visit for a few days or deciding to live here.
How did you come up with the name?
Well, to be honest, I didn’t really like the name at the beginning. I couldn’t believe that this strange little word could make us memorable at all. FUN was for having fun, of course, and the ending came from the word magazine, as we were only planning to launch that one single print issue that you can see each month. The fact that our portfolio was able to become this colourful was completely beyond our expectations. But it is actually a good representation of our work attitude and philosophy, meaning we’ve always tried to satisfy our clients, offer more to our partners and our readers.
The brand celebrates its 11th birthday this year. What are you the most proud of?
I’m very proud of the fact that we can talk about a brand, and I’m also proud of the spirit and the message of our products. I’m happy to look back on the journey we’ve been through so far, the steps we’ve taken along the way to develop in the past eleven years.
As a leader, what do you consider to be the biggest challenge?
The most difficult task is probably to keep the motivation and the enthusiasm, not only in myself but in the whole team.
How can you recharge your energy and spirit?
I love travelling: whenever you step out of your comfort zone, you can see things from a different perspective with regard to your job or your private life. Sometimes, you get closer to a solution by distancing yourself from it for a bit.
Which were the most significant milestones in the company’s life?
The first one was establishing our event management branch, then publishing the Balaton/Hungary FUNZINE magazines. Gaining a number of special issues on various topics was another huge step, just like continuously developing our distribution network that lets us reach so many readers. We’ve recently made some improvements on the digital front, too: we launched our new website and currently working on our mobile application. There’s always another goal to accomplish.