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Fri - September 19, 2003


What's In A Name? Time Warner Drops The "AOL" 



"When you're in bed with Max Power, you strap yourself in and feel the G's!"
—Homer Simpson 

In my favorite episode of The Simpsons, Homer exults when a television show introduces a debonair detective character who bears his name. But pleasure turns to dismay when the show's next episode converts his namesake into a moron. Deciding that he needs a new moniker, Homer changes his name to Max Power (a title he draws from an electrical plug) and adopts a new and more confident, take charge persona to go with it:
    HOMER: There are three ways to do things: the right way, the wrong way, and the Max Power way!

    BART: Isn't that just the wrong way?

    HOMER: Yeah, but faster!

I remembered that episode when I learned that the board of directors at AOL Time Warner has voted to remove AOL from the company's corporate name and to revert to the TWX ticker symbol to repair the firm's public image.

Given the many financial and regulatory troubles AOL faced this year, it's not surprising that the board took a cue from California politics and approved a recall. After all, this wasn't the first time a company has shortened its name with the hope of transforming its brand image too. Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC in 1991 to avoid the unhealthy connotations of the word "fried" and Silicon Graphics became SGI to clarify that it was more than a graphics company.

But whatever psychological benefits those changes in form provided, they did nothing to transform the fundamentals of the companies—which is what AOL needs most. KFC still fries its chicken. SGI still produces graphic workstations. Max Power was still Homer Simpson.

And Time Warner—with or without AOL—still has plenty of work to do.

I wish it luck.

 

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