• by Paul Gough , January 15, 2004

Imagine you had the dough to buy a Super Bowl ad. Then imagine you ran an Internet provider, with so many initiatives that it'd be hard to even mention them all in a single spot. And then spend the whole thing to advertise an idea that could have been promoted in 1996:

Using dial-up!

That's just what AOL is going to do during this year's Super Bowl, when Reuters said it will trot out three spots in front of millions promoting its TopSpeed Service. TopSpeed uses what AOL calls "optimized Web acceleration technology" to access pages faster. While it's available to all AOL customers - whether they connect via broadband or the rapidly declining dial-up - it's obvious that AOL is trying to find a way to keep as many dial-up customers as it can.

"The Super Bowl moment is a moment to redefine AOL.com," an AOL executive told Reuters. "The core of our business is narrowband and making sure people say AOL has all of the stuff that I care about."

Some observers think that's a misguided strategy, considering the fact that consumers seem to be embracing broadband at an ever-increasing rate. Why sell consumers an older, slower technology - even dressed in new clothes and maybe at a lower price - if what they really want is the Web equivalent of the fast car?

The Super Bowl is more than just a pricey place to buy TV commercials. It's the biggest venue for event marketing, and where you go to get the biggest bang for your buck. AOL ought to be hawking its must-have services. If the future is broadband - at least for the people who can afford it - then why is AOL using its platform in part to boost a service where there isn't that much of a future?

Does it have more to do with saving AOL or serving its customers?

-- Paul J. Gough