America Online Inc. is launching a $35 million marketing campaign in a bid to hang on to its subscribers, even if they buy high-speed Internet access elsewhere.
For the first time, the company that brought the Internet to the masses with the slogan, "So Easy to Use, No Wonder It"s #1," is rolling out a new catch-phrase: "Welcome to the World Wide Wow." The fresh pitch is targeted at the company"s 27 million subscribers in the United States, who in ever-greater numbers are switching to high-speed connections, and letting go of AOL in the process.
With its large but shrinking base of mostly dial-up customers, America Online is vulnerable, as Comcast Corp., other cable firms and digital-subscriber line providers sign up customers who prefer faster Internet connections. AOL officials said most of its subscribers are not even aware that America Online has a unique broadband offering with exclusive video, audio and other features not available via dial-up or through any other service.
"We haven"t been in the game, and now we have to make a broadband push," AOL chief executive Jonathan F. Miller said. "This is the beginning. Now the march begins."