AOL: Calling all Sad Bears
I was puzzling over this recruitment ad for AOL that was posted on a billboard near my agency's building in the tech-heavy SoMa neighborhood.
Is this how the new brand image of AOL is going to be expressed?
If so, I guess we're going for a mix of upper and lower case and some new punctuation, which is OK, although it adds some complexity. For instance, does this mean we should start pronouncing it ay-ohl? Or, more properly, ay-ohl period? Or is that ay-ohl dot, as in dot com?
And what's with the sad bear on the circus bike? Are they looking for a very particular personality type in their employees? Should happy monkeys be advised that they need not apply?
Sure, we're all feeling a bit melancholy, given the economic situation and all the disasters and wars and all of that in the past few years, but really, it doesn't have to be worn on a corporate sleeve in such lugubrious fashion. Even in the case of a lugubrious former high-flyer brand such as Aol.
My last complaint is more along the advertising line, as I see a disconnect between the headline and the image of the sad bear. I guess when I imagine myself as a rock star, the picture I see is somewhat sexier and more energetic. But then again, to an audience of sexy young things I suppose I would most likely seem more like a sad bear on a circus bike than Eminem.
Not that they're asking, but my advice to Aol.'s marketing execs is to stop and consider exactly how they're presenting the brand to the world.
Is this how the new brand image of AOL is going to be expressed?
If so, I guess we're going for a mix of upper and lower case and some new punctuation, which is OK, although it adds some complexity. For instance, does this mean we should start pronouncing it ay-ohl? Or, more properly, ay-ohl period? Or is that ay-ohl dot, as in dot com?
And what's with the sad bear on the circus bike? Are they looking for a very particular personality type in their employees? Should happy monkeys be advised that they need not apply?
Sure, we're all feeling a bit melancholy, given the economic situation and all the disasters and wars and all of that in the past few years, but really, it doesn't have to be worn on a corporate sleeve in such lugubrious fashion. Even in the case of a lugubrious former high-flyer brand such as Aol.
My last complaint is more along the advertising line, as I see a disconnect between the headline and the image of the sad bear. I guess when I imagine myself as a rock star, the picture I see is somewhat sexier and more energetic. But then again, to an audience of sexy young things I suppose I would most likely seem more like a sad bear on a circus bike than Eminem.
Not that they're asking, but my advice to Aol.'s marketing execs is to stop and consider exactly how they're presenting the brand to the world.
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