Corporate re-branding is sometimes an inevitable exercise and it is normal to see global trendsetters moving away from brands with which they are known to completely new ones. AOL which means American Online is an American company that provides internet services and is also involved in social media networking. The internet company is in the process of re-branding itself. AOL will split from Time Warner which has been operating it since the year 2002. This means that everything from the way it is written will change though the name remains as AOL but it will be written as Aol. in small letters with a dot at the end which is compulsory. AOL is a powerful product that has been making huge amounts of profits and one that now wants to make a lot more changes on itself. A view master, a high heeled shoe and a kissing couple are but few background features that are set to be replaced with some other backgrounds an example of a gold fish. The re-branding move by AOL is being seen as one way to make it elicit much more effective and impulsive impact from people around the world and to woo more customers. The re-branding exercise will be taking effect come December this year.

It is obvious that this online giant may be suffering from the effects of the global crunch hence the need to stay put in the market. Misplaced priorities are some of the factors being cited to be the reason behind the re-branding exercise. Already various processes have been put in place to see that the promotional efforts becomes a success. AOL will indeed need to come up with great ideas to make people believe the relevance of this re-branding exercise. Many questions are being asked as to why AOL would want to re-brand itself, with others seeing this as one way to allow the internet company to be more independent. After 10th of December shares of AOL will start trading on their own on the New York Stock Exchange.

AOL re-branding itself may be the only way out to try and persuade people to stop having negative perceptions about it. Many people view this re-branding exercise as part of its campaign of letting everyone know of its shift from Time Warner which has been operating it. The need to ensure that a re-branding exercise is successfully achieved is to ensure that the re-brand is carefully worked on and properly communicated so that everyone understands what it is all about. The success of AOL re-branding will be determined by proper strategies which will need to be put in place to make it a success. AOL should understand that the re-branding may prove futile should they ignore important factors like continuous advertisement to make people more familiar with what it intends to do. AOL is yet to recover from negative perception especially after a half of its employees lost their jobs hence the need to be extra careful when approaching the same public.

AOL getting a brand make over is certainly the right direction to go, and it should prove that it’s still the undisputed market leader when it comes to provision of quality internet services globally. The re-branding exercise will definitely make this global giant be able to have its priorities right when setting up of managerial strategies to help increase its growth. Just like with other companies that have rebranded for the better, it’s time we said goodbye to AOL and welcome to Aol. After this, is very probable that eyes will be on the corporation to see whether the rebranding will be for good or for worse.

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