AOL might be a name that many people associate with America, but there was a time when AOL was actually one of the leading internet providers in the UK, too. One of the first to make the move to mass consumption of dial-up services along with competitor CompuServe, AOL was one of the first providers in the country to offer unlimited dial-up access and move away from the ‘pay per minute’ model.
The company’s reputation wasn’t always as good as its sales, though. The portal software AOL required net users to run was system intensive and buggy, and while it helped many people get on the internet for the first time, it had a reputation of being for amateur net users and people who didn’t know what they were doing.
AOLs heyday as world’s biggest ISP has come and gone now, and the company is rebranded itself to serve online content via a portal service. The rebrand includes a simpler, lower case logo combined with a selection of increasingly bizarre images including a goldfish, some sort of green doodle and a hand making devil horns.
CEO Tim Armstrong stated: “Our new identity is uniquely dynamic. Our business is focused on creating world-class experiences for consumers and AOL is centred 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.”
It’s certainly different, but we’re not sure if this attempt to connect with the ‘hip internet generation’ is going to work that well. Twitter is already drowning in comments of the new brand, and few of them have much praise:
“AOL’s new branding + identity is nothing short of a complete disaster. Wow. Speechless.”
“Does anyone else think the new Aol logo looks like it was designed by a 5th grader?”
The new branding comes into effect on the 10th of December this year when AOL stock begins trading on the NYSE.
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