AOL reinvents itself

IN A BID to be seen as cool and hip as it tries to spin off from Time Warner, AOL has released a new "brand identity".

Generally when an outfit can't think of a way of improving its lot, it calls up the marketing department, which usually comes up with an idea that involves changing something to a different colour to make everything better.

As yet the only marketing department that has ever managed to drive a company toward success in this way has been Apple, but now AOL has decided that this sort of thing is the best way forward. Well, that and firing nearly a third of its staff.

Technology-wise, AOL belongs to a different age of the Internet. It was successful when we had modems and most software was so primitive that downloading a picture could take hours.

AOL offered the world an online community where an entire generation got used to the idea of the world wide web.

However it was soon outclassed and few people needed the walled gardens that outfits like CompuServe and AOL provided.

Obviously the marketing people think that all that is needed to save AOL from the dustbin of history is a bit more marketing bollocks.

Tim Armstrong, AOL chairman and CEO, said "our new identity is uniquely dynamic. Our business is focused on creating world-class experiences for consumers, and AOL is centered on creative and talented people - employees, partners, and advertisers. We have a clear strategy that we are passionate about, and we plan on standing behind the AOL brand as we take the company into the next decade."

If you read every word of that sentence you have done well. There is not a single item of substance in it. He might as well have been singing Genesis's "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", in Swedish.

Apparently AOL partnered with Wolff Olins, which makes a living out of branding companies, to create a new brand identity including new logos.

This is based on the marketing faith that punters will buy any old tat as long as it has a natty logo.

The old AOL logo featured all capital letters and a triangular object with a circle in it. The new logo will have only the "A" in AOL capitalized and will include a period at the end of the name.

According to AOL, the new logo emits a friendlier, more approachable vibe, especially when paired with the objects like goldfish.

Right, so all I have to do is print the word 'turd' in nice friendly letters and stick it next to a picture of a kitten and it will smell of roses?

Karl Heiselman, CEO of Wolff Olins, said that "historically, brand identity has been monolithic and controlling, little more than stamping a company name on a product.

"AOL is a 21st century media company, with an ambitious vision for the future and new focus on creativity and expression, and this required the new brand identity to be open and generous, to invite conversation and collaboration, and to feel credible...." Sorry, I dozed off there in the middle of the quote.

Looking at the logos, I can't say that I am inspired. When I see the name AOL I hear the sound of a modem's high pitched squeal and remember slanging matches on prototype chat rooms. In fact CompuServe was better and it didn't matter how many free disks I got in the mail, I never really used AOL much.

It will take more than a new logo to fix that problem. µ