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AOL Turns On Broadband

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By LouAnn Lofton (TMF Bling)
March 24, 2003

The Oscars are the Superbowl of award shows, and that's the likely reason AOL Time Warner (NYSE: AOL) decided to unveil its latest sexy advertising effort during the telecast last night.

Viewers were treated to an image of a satiated, negligee-clad Sharon Stone lying in bed, enticing her unseen visitor to stick around for a while. Cut to AOL's little yellow Instant Messenger running man and the new slogan for the campaign, "Welcome to the World Wide Wow."

Cute and clever, yes. Effective? Well, we'll just have to wait and see. AOL, spending $35 million on the six-week campaign, is definitely hoping for the best.

The spots support the new add-on service "AOL for Broadband," which rolls out March 31. As Internet users switch from slow dialup connections to speedy broadband hookups in ever-increasing numbers, AOL hopes its 27 million subscribers don't abandon ship. It needs to remain competitive with current, stripped-bare broadband offerings from companies like Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA).

The new service will cost $9.95 a month for existing subscribers, and will offer broadband goodies like music and video downloads. For traveling or other times when the customer is away from the broadband connection, the add-on will offer five hours of dialup use. Non-subscribers will have to pony up $14.95 for the service.

Around 16 million American households currently shell out between $40 and $60 a month for high-speed Internet, either through a cable modem or digital subscriber line (DSL). AOL's new service and the charges for it would be piled on top of those fees. While that may seem prohibitively expensive, the ability to keep a long-standing email address plus the broadband extras may just do the trick. Plus, having a few dialup hours a month for traveling is a good bonus.

We won't know if AOL's broadband push is working until the company's second quarter, given the timing of the rollout. However, for a company long on trouble and short on luck, "AOL for Broadband" may just be the beacon of hope it needs.

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