Browsing at the newstand, the Dec WIRED has an article "Keyword: Context" By Frank Rose. All about AOL.
Given the net/is/freedom/future/fabulous bent of WIRED, I expected a thorough trashing to follow, along the lines of AOL - IT"S DOOMED!!!!! Not so. Sure, doubts about their ability to execute are expressed, but the crew from Vienna come off sounding aggressive, focused, and ready to grab a lot of market share, IMO.
A few quotes, (but you should check out the full article):
"AOL is ..the wired future as subject to brand management, a Coca-Cola vision of 21st century community."
"While the Street is full of doomsayers who regard AOL's financial structure as a house of cards, the lunge for hypergrowth may well be the right choice - perhaps the only choice. Case shows no doubts. 'It seems to us that there will be a handful of major global players'."
"While the web is sprouting billboards to grab people's attention as they cruise, consumerism is built into the very architecture of the AOL cybermall".
"The trick is to convince advertisers they're better off providing value on AOL than on the web. Not only does AOL offer more consistent traffic than the web and more precise usage data, it also has the ability to let advertisers identify and communicate directly with members who click on their message, something that's harder, at least for now, to do on the web".
"In the AOL view of the world, the Internet is not a boundless wonderland; it's content to be packaged and arranged on the shelf"
Brian |
