AOL: A New Do for the Year of the Monkey
January 18, 2016
I read “AOL’s Identity Crisis: The Company May Ditch the AOL Brand.” I remember the flood of discs. I remember the hidden files thoughtfully placed on my hard drive when I installed America Online. I remember the Xoogler who bought his own local publishing outfit to reinvigorate AOL and, of course, his own local America Online. I remember Verizon buying AOL because, well, it could.
According to the write up:
one of AOL’s biggest priorities for the new year is figuring out its brand and investing in it, even if that means saying goodbye to the name “AOL” in favor of launching something completely new.
I learned that
Mark Ritson, a leading brand expert and marketing consultant, tells Business Insider that he also thinks the messy corporate brand definitely needs a clean up. AOL is tricky, he says, because it has very strong brand awareness, but that its image “has an unpalatable mix of being seen to be out of date and a business failure.”
No matter what name Verizon chooses, AOL will always evoke fond memories for me. The dial up modem, the chat groups, the fantastical email services.
So many memories. What ever happened to that Xoogler’s local news idea? Ah, it did not work out.
I look forward to the Yahooligans following AOL’s trajectory. Two new branding opportunities for the marketing consultants.
It is the year of the monkey too. Love those creatures.
Stephen E Arnold, January 18, 2016
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