Visual Strategy Guide
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Visual Strategy Guide
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Table of Contents 8
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Chapter 1: Brand Introduction Brand Introduction Brand History Brand Mission Keywords Chapter 2: Audience Profiles Audience Profiles
42 Chapter 3: Brand Grid: Past & Future Brand Grid: Past Brand Grid: Future 50 Chapter 3: Competitors Current Competitors Adjacent Competitors Future Competitors 7
Chapter 1:
Brand Introduction
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Brand Introduction
Description AOL is a web portal and online service provider that centers around connectivity and providing everyone access to information for free, particularly underserved or overlooked communities. People of a certain age will associate AOL as the home of Instant Messenger, which provided people with a level of connectivity that had never before been experienced. Other will remember it for “You’ve got mail”. Either way, AOL is a cultural icon from early years of the internet, the precursor to texting and eventually social media that would forever change the way people communicate.. One of the original Internet giants of the 90s, AOL’s goal was to get everyone connected to the Internet, and when the dot com bubble burst, they were successfully able to pivot into a media company that successfully rivaled google in online ad sales. Throughout both of its phases the defining characteristic of the company was its attention to rural and older Americans, offering access to local content and communities that often went overlooked by major ISPs and media companies. AOL was a brand of the people that offered services that were easy to use and available to anyone. While they were rarely the first, they were successful in getting people to use their services when trepidation about the internet still existed. They also demonstrated an ability to evolve when necessary, a trait that allowed them to survive when so many other titans of the dot com era crumbled to dust. Soul Connecting communities, helping groups communicate, and individuals learn.
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Brand History The Beginning
The Dream of Access
Growth & Expansion
1989: Quantum Computer services launches its first instant message
1993: AOL starts mailing compact discs to homes to help them get online.
1999: AOL buys Moviefone and Internet browser Netscape.
service
A Name to Suit the Mission 1991: Quantum renames itself America Online, known as AOL
Reaching the Peak 1996: AOL reaches 5 million members
Golden Era
The Early Years & Video Games
The Golden Era of the 90s
AOL is a web portal and online service provider originally founded back in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, a service that hosted multi-player games for the Atari 2600, and later Commodore 64 gaming system. Their initial idea was to provide a service for buying music on demand, an idea decades ahead of its time, was rejected by Warner Bros. and they pivoted to temporary downloads of video games.
In February 1991, AOL for launched for DOS and Windows. In the early 90s, the average subscription lasted for 25 months. In an attempt to boost their total number of users, advertisements began inviting modem users to “Try America Online for FREE, promising free software and trial membership. This era is probably best remembered for their “carpet bombing” marketing campaign which looked to distribute as many free trial AOL disks as possible through nonconventional distribution partners. At one point, 50% of the CDs produced worldwide had an AOL logo on them. The strategy worked, and by the mid-90s, AOL had surpassed it main competitors, GEnie, Prodigy, and CompuServe.
In 1985, the company changed its name to Quantum Computer Services and began focusing on dedicated online services for video game systems and early computers. By using computing power of the system or computer as opposed to just that of the terminal, their Q-Link system had capabilities that other providers of the time could not match. During this period, the company introduced many innovative online features such as graphical chat environments and interactive For a short time in 1988, the company partnered with Apple Computer, the relationship was shorted lived, and when it ended, the company changed its name to America Online.
Over the next several years, AOL launched services with many education providers including the National Education Association, Library of Congress, and the US Department of Education. They offered the first real-time homework help service, the first service by children for children, the first online service for parents, the first online courses, the first omnibus service for teachers, and the first parental controls for online access. Through their partnerships the looked to maximize the internet’s educational possibilities. Up until 1996, AOL charged it users an hourly fee for access, when they changed over to a flat monthly fee. This change lead to a flood of new users and within 3 years their user base grew to 10 million, and by 1997 about half of all US homes with internet access had it through AOL.
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The Beginning Of the End 2001: AOL merges with Time Warner to form the media giant AOL Time Warner
Merger
The Last Ditch Effort 2006: America Online formally changes its name and begins offering services for free.
A Second Chance
A Final Farewell
2009: Time Warner spins off AOL into a separate company
2015: Verizon announces $4.4 billion deal to buy AOL
Rebirth & Rebranding 2011: AOL buys the Huffington Post
Media Company
Merger, Rebrand, and Decline
Rebirth & Digital Media
In January 2000, AOL and Time Warner announced plans to merge. From its initiation, the merger struggled. AOL tried to evolve to match the changing demands of the internet access, introducing Security Sevices and Active Virus Shield. As more and more users migrated away from AOL, they announced they would start providing many of the services only available to their paying customers for free. These included AOL Instant Messenger, AOL Video, AOL Local, and of AOL
After the merger with Time Warner failed, AOL needed a new direction, and began to shutter many of the services that they were known for including chat rooms. In an attempt to rebrand as a digital media company, AOL purchased Patch Media, which was a network of community-specific news and information sites that focused on individual towns and communities, TechCrunch, and the Huffington Post. During this period, AOL had two distinct branches: digital content creation, which were culturally very successful, with partnerships with PBS and others that culminated in a Emmy nomination in 2014; and online video advertising. These moves allowed AOL to grow for a short time as they successfully competed with Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft in terms of online ad revenue. In February 2013, AOL reported its first growth in quarterly revenue in 8 years.
webmail. Unfortunately all these moves did was temporarily delay the inevitable. By November 2007, AOL’s customer base had been reduced to just over 10 million subscribers, and the company was forced to layoff nearly 40% of their employees. In 2008, Time Warner announced it would split AOL into two companies, one focusing on internet access, the other on advertising. Within a year Time Warner fully shed AOL, spinning it off as an independent company.
Unfortunately later that year AOL began shuttering parts of its business, in particular Patch Media, ushering in an end to the hyper local era of AOL. The next year Verizon announced plans to purchase AOL. The move made sense for Verizon, broadening its advertising sales platform and content creation, but it also meant an end to the AOL that had existed for 30 years.
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Brand Mission
Our Mission is to connect everyone to the world and information around, no matter how big or small, trivial or important.
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Keywords
Connection AOL has always been about connecting people online whether that be through email, instant messaging, or chat rooms. In the age of social media, connection online has come to mean something different but the main tenets still exist. The new AOL should look to expand beyond digital connections and get people to connect in real and tangible ways. AOL can show people that technology does not have to be an isolating thing, and instead can be used to create new deep personal connections. The new AOL should look to bring the world together.
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Community AOL always stressed the importance of local communities in their products. They wanted the internet to strengthen local communities as opposed to isolating or degrading them. This hyper locality was something unique to AOL and should continue to be one of the pillars that the new AOL is based on.
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Education From early on in its history, AOL understood how important education in the internet Age would be, and know game changing the internet could be for education. They saw the internet as way to allow everyone access to education in ways people hadn’t even dreamed of. Maintaining education as one of the main tenants of new AOL will allow the company to remain true to many of the values that it was founded on.
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Chapter 2:
Audience Profiles
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Chapter 2:
Audience Profiles
Introduction User personas are the people the brand hopes to attract. For AOL, this is a difficult task because at the core of the brand is the desire to help everyone, rich or poor, young or old, tech savvy or not. For this reason I pulled a personas from all walks of the life. For the elderly or retired, some may feel if technology has left them behind. The brand will look to change the idea that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. For successful young professionals and college grads, it will look to provide them with the ability to connect with their communities and other people in ways they didn’t realize the Internet could. And for students and young families, it is access to technology that will better prepare for success in the future. These personas are simply a guideline to better focus the rebranding of AOL, because without the users feeling a genuine connection to brand, there really is no reason for it to be reborn. Connectivity for all is goal.
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Jackson
“High School Achiever”
Age: 16 Occupation: High School Student Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Income: Weekly Allowance Main Communication Portal: Computer Computer Literacy: He can handle himself
· Jackson loves to spend time on the computer and tinker with tech while at school and wishes he could do more it while at home, but his family can’t afford to buy fancy new versions of stuff as they come out.
· Jackson doesn’t want to lose touch with where he came from once he moves away for college because he feels indebted to the community that made him who he is.
· He is the student body president and can’t wait to graduate high school and attend college where he will finally have the ability to focus on what he really loves.
· Jackson wants to learn how to code because he believes that field offers him the best opportunity for a career and he is fascinated with the way computers work.
· He has a large group of friends from all over that he has meet during leadership conferences and other school funded camps and experiences and wants the ability to keep connected with them seamlessly.
· While he focuses on school, he loves video games because they have opened a world of communication to people he would have never talked to otherwise.
· Jackson spends a lot time in the school’s computer lab because access to a computer at home has been one of Jackson’s biggest obstacles for his education.
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Bryan
“Out of the Nest, College Bound”
Age: 19 Occupation: College Student Location: San Diego, California
Income: Small, what his parents give him Main Communication Portal: Apps Computer Literacy: As good as it gets
· Bryan lives in the dorms, it is his first time living away from home and he is afraid that will have trouble making new friends because he always felt like sort of an outsider in High School.
· He is an avid gamer who loves playing online because of all of the people he gets to meet and talk to. He was made fun as a child and they online community feels more deomocratic and accepting.
· He is very excited for college because he grew in a working class family with one computer and most of his access to technology came while he was at school, now at college he is saving up for a new computer but until then has to use the computer lab for most of his work
· Bryan loves learning and takes his studies very seriously because he knows they offer him the ability to do the most with his life and career. He wants to work with technology.
· He is the first of his family to attend university in the US and he wants desperately to make his family proud while still getting the opportunity to get the college experience.
· Bryan has a lot of family overseas and because of this has really embraced messages apps that allow him to stay in touch with them without a serious financial commitment.
· Bryan loves using social media because he received a smart phone for 18th birthday and loves it and uses it to keep in touch with his friends. He also fears he might lose touch now that they are all in college.
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Joey
“Fresh out of College”
Age: 24 Occupation: Uber Driver Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Income: Limited Main Communication Portal: Apps Computer Literacy: Knows his way around
· Joey just graduated from college and moved to a new city, since moving he has been surprised at the difficulty he has had in establishing new relationships in the city (both friendship and romantic) and wonders if there are ways to expand his friend base. · Never a particularly studious person, Joey is fine at technology, though not amazing, and uses his phone with the highest frequency. · Despite a degree in Journalism, Joey doesn’t have much opportunity to write because he broke his computer at a party not long after college and has not had the financial means to replace it. Believes having another computer but allow him to jumpstart his career. · Wants new people in his life to play basketball with, go out to concerts with, etc. isn’t particularly fond of meeting people through the Internet because you can never be sure who you are actually meeting or where they might live.
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· Because of his initial career missteps, he is open to refocusing his education to help him better compete in the job market. This could include moving away from journalism. · Joey likes to keep in touch with his family because they are his bedrock and keep motivating him to better himself and achieve the life they know he can live. · Joey is on the lookout for services that will help him advance his career because he has had trouble figuring out how to do that for himself and has struggled mightily trying to find a job.
Yena
“The Young Professional”
Age: 29 Occupation: Software Programmer Location: San Francisco, California
Income: Enough to enjoy the city Main Communication Portal: Apps Computer Literacy: Extremely Literate
· Yena, by any definition of the word, has been very successful. She graduated with both a bachelors and masters in Computer Science and very good job at a successful tech company in Silicon Valley
· Because of her financial independence, she is able to keep all of the technology she uses up to date, and takes to new tech very easily in terms of learning how to use it properly.
· While successful, she has had to work very hard and it has left her little time for a life outside of work. She would like the opportunity to meet people outside of work, so as to make friends outside of work and possibly meet a significant other, though this is not a priority.
· Yena has had access to the best education and services available throughout her life and because of this does not feel like her education is lacking, and only really looks towards continuing education to better herself as person, not professionally.
· She loves SF and despite its high cost of living, feels like she could get the best out of the city, but has trouble meeting new people in the city for various reasons.
· Because of negative experiences when she was growing up, Yena is not a fan of chat rooms or communication with people solely through the Internet or social media. She would prefer to meet people in the real world.
· Has always had an easy time understanding how technology works and is very knowledgeable in technology in general. At this point she mainly uses her smart phone when she is not at work.·
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Cynthia
“Mother in a Crazy World”
Age: 34 Occupation: Store owner Location: Seattle, Washington
Income: Tight, but not untenable Main Communication Portal: Phone Computer Literacy: Passable
· Her husband and baby daddy is out of the picture but still in the area, their relationship is amenable, with the husband getting his time on the weekends.
· While she isn’t necessarily looking for someone to replace her husband, she is open to the idea of meeting someone new if it was in relaxed circumstances.
· She is all about her daughter, wanting to give her every opportunity possible to succeed.
· Cynthia understands the importance of both providing for her daughter and maintaining a social life, and because of this she is looking to achieve better balance between the parts of her life.
· Wishes that she found it easier to get her interested in STEM, knowing that this is what will allow her to have a successful, comfortable life. She wants her daughter to be more successful than she was, and to not struggle after school. · Outside of family life, Cynthia has trouble meeting new people because of the time she spends working and managing the home front. When she does have free time is often at a loss at what to do with that time.
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· Cynthia has been looking for the education opportunities online to further her career because she doesn’t have time during the day and by working on her education at night she can better her life.
Divya & Jay
“Empty Nesters”
Age: 52 & 56 Occupation: Project Manager & Professor Location: San Mateo, California
Income: Well-off, living comfortably Main Communication Portal: Email Computer Literacy: Well-versed
· They are starting a new chapter in their lives because their youngest child has finally left for college and for the first time in 27 years, they have the house to themselves.
· Both are open to continuing their education in part because they want to learn new skills as well keep up to a certain extent with what their children are learning about in college.
· Without children they have significantly more free time and the opportunity to make new friends in their community outside of their own house. Jay is an avid tennis player and needs a couple partners to fill up his game of doubles.
· They sometimes feel out of touch with the world they see on the TV and what they read about in the newspaper, and would like to find ways to be better connected because they believe it is important to understand what is going on and have more time to dedicate to learning about the rest of the world.
· They often worry about their children and like to stay in touch in any way possible, they are competent with the computer and their smart phones but would like to know how to use them better and take full advantage of what they have to offer. · With both of them working, they are now occasionally by themselves while the other is still working. Divya is using that time to get back into Bridge.
· Both have started using Facebook as a way to keep tabs on their children and stay in touch with other family members and friends in the community because they worry that they will miss out on major occurrences if they don’t embrace it.
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Charles
“The New Retiree”
Age: 63 Occupation: Retired, Former Doctor Location: College Park, Maryland
Income: Wealthy, living off the 401K Main Communication Portal: Computer Computer Literacy: Medium
· Charles has been a perpetual bachelor and thus has no immediate family, since retiring he has had trouble adjusting to life without interacting with people through work.
· Charles has been exploring different educational opportunities because he needs a way to fill some of his newly acquired free time and he wants to expand his interests.
· While working, he was always extremely dedicated to his job, and didn’t have time for many hobbies outside of it, now he has free time and doesn’t know what to do with it.
· Charles has provided kids with tutor and mentor help because he loves helping people but doesn’t have a family to mentor.
· He is not terrible with a computer but he is still intimidated by everything that is available for him to through his phone and computer and wishes it was easier to get help on how to use all of the features to better organize his free time. · Charles has begun to experiment with social media as a way to meet people because he knows there are other people in his community like him and he wishes there was a way to connect with them and organize activities.
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· Charles is open to learning more about how to use his computer so that he can take full advantage of his retirement. He wants to be able to meet new people and travel to new places.
Nadine
“The Widowed Grandmother”
Age: 78 Occupation: Retired (grandmother) Location: Jupiter, Florida
Income: Fixed Main Communication Portal: Telephone Computer Literacy: Low
Ethnographic Traits · Nadine was married for 55 years before her husband passed away, now she lives alone, two states away from her daughter and grandchildren. · Before now she has had limited need for new technology and for the most part when does interact with it, she finds it too complicated and confusing to make it worth while. · With her husband gone, she is looking for new people to spend time with in her area.
· Nadine wants to learn how to use her phone and computer better because of the opportunities it will open up for her both in terms of communication and education. · Nadine is looking to computers as a way to keep learning and keeping her mind active because she knows how important keeping your mind active is, and is worried that the loss of her husband will trigger the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s. · Staying in touch with her family is very important to her because she worries that they will forget about her.
· She wants the ability to stay more connected with her grandchildren because they are starting to grow up and she wants to be a major part of their lives.
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Chapter 3:
Brand Grid: Past & Future
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The Grid Before: Tacky but Reliable
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After: Sophisticate but Reliable
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Chapter 4:
Competitors
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Current Competitors
AT&T AT&T is a telecommunication company that began offering Internet access. Due to their large network of cables and phone towers they were able to adapt to changing landscape of the early 2000s much better than AOL as an ISP provider. Verizon Verizon is another telecommunication and internet provider that grew and overtook AOL as the primary portal for internet access. In 2015, Verizon purchased AOL and absorbed it.
HughesNet HughesNet is a satellite internet provider that is available virtually everywhere. It’s accessibility was the stated goal of AOL, but because of their use of satellites was even more successful in making internet an option for everyone. MSN MSN is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices created by Microsoft. It was AOL most direct competitor during the late 90s and early 2000s.
Yahoo! Yahoo! along with AOL was one of the pioneers of early internet era. It is a web service provider that offered many of the same services as AOL, but like AOL suffered major declines in the 2000s and was eventually purchased by Verizon.
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Lycos Another early internet pioneer, Lycos is a web search engine and web portal that also incorporated a number of other services, but it is known as the pioneer of the internet search.
Frontier Communications An Internet provider that specializes in cheap connection options including no-contract plans. This allows the opportunity for virtually anyone to have access to the internet.
Charter Spectrum Charter Spectrum is a more recent internet and cable provider that focuses on cable based internet at average speeds well above the competition. AOL reliance on dial-up is ultimately one of the reasons that sunk them as an ISP. CompuServe. CompuServe was the first major commercial online service provider in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major influence through the mid-1990s. AOL eventually overtook it as the top ISP during the 90s. Century Link Century Link is an internet provider that specializes in internet access for businesses. They offer very clear SLAs and make connection for businesses easy and obtainable.
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Adjacent Competitors
Facebook The world’s largest social media website, Facebook has largely taken over AOL’s hold on the connecting of communities and keeping in touch with family and friends.
Linkedin A social media platform geared entirely on employment and business connections. This has eliminated some of the usefulness of earlier job services hosted on AOL.
Twitter Twitter is a service that allows people to communicate directly and immediately with followers through ‘tweets’. This seamless communication has replaced most other methods of disseminating information quickly to large groups of people. Instagram Focusing mainly on images, Instagram is another social media network that allows people to connect and communicate in a more visual way than was possible on AOL.
Youtube Youtube is online video platform that allows people to post their own videos for anyone to view. The connectivity and multimedia opportunities on Youtube make it a unique place for communities to form
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reddit Reddit is social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website that allows people to share news and information for a large community that than discusses.
Amazon Web Services AWS is cloud based computing services for individuals and companies, allowing anybody access to powerful servers over the internet. They have allowed levels of access and connectivity that could only have been dreamed of back in the nineties. XBOX Live Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service. It has created an enormous community of gamers and allows playful banter during gameplay.
Twitch Twitch is a game streaming service that allows people to follow and watch their favorite gamers while also communicating with them. This has lead to formation of loyal communities through connection and access linked with video games. Slack Slack is team collaboration software centered around chat available to companies. It eliminated the need for insecure forms of web-based chats in the business environments.
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Future Competitors
Quora Quora is a question-and-answer website where questions are asked, answered, edited, and organized by its community of users in the form of opinions. It is the ease of access to information and the dedicated user base that AOL will hope to incorporate. Conde Nast Conde Nast is an American mass media company that offers content ranging from fashion, science, politics, and culture across its 19 brands. Their ability to adapt to the changing landscape of publishing and offer varied news and information will be a component of the new AOL Coursera Coursera is an online learning portal that allows students the oppurtunities to learn valuable credentials from top universities. These partnerships with some of the top universities in the US is something that AOL should look to emulate. BBC The British Broadcasting Service is the American equivalent of PBS but with a larger number of services. It is very successful in uniting communities and providing accessible information to everyone.
Khan Academy Khan Academy is non-profit educational organization focusing on online education for both students and teachers. Their approach to making education accessible is something AOL should strive for.
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Codecademy Codecademy is online interactive that offers coding classes. Their innovative techniques for teaching valuable tech skills and providing people of all ages to advance their careers is something AOL will inspire to.
Gizmodo Gizmodo is collection of online websites and businesses that focus on science and technology. They offer portals that allow people interested in these subjects to communicate and collaborate.
Udacity Udacity is online education portal that offers massive online courses geared to vocational subjects largely in tech. Their goal to offer educational services to everyone is something AOL will look to emulate.
Fusion Media Group Fusion Media Group is a media conglomerate dedicated to servicing a diverse young America. Their inclusive reach is something that the new AOL will look to achieve.
Knewton Knewton is the leader in adaptive learning. Their approach to gearing learning to better help students through analytics is exactly the innovative thinking that should be applied to education at any age.
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Typography Roboto Design Christopher Leon Printing Imagink
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