AOL to launch broadband ad blitz

America Online said Monday that it would launch a new ad campaign from June 1 to promote the premium service.

The online branding exercise, which will run through July, is a forerunner of a much more vigorous campaign involving print and broadcast media, the company said.

AOL, which has the highest number of dial-up subscribers, has lagged in luring broadband subscribers. It recently axed a plan to sell broadband directly, instead trying to win customers with a "bring your own access" strategy that touts the premium content as an add-on to customers who already have broadband service. In a double whammy for the world's biggest interactive services company, there has been a substantial drop in growth of its dial-up subscriber base of late.

The new ad campaign, created by digital marketing firm Atmosphere BBDO, pushes the idea that speed is just one part of the broadband story and that content is equally as important.

The series of "Speed Meet..." ads will run on Web sites operated by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, MTV and ABC News.

In an effort to push its broadband services, AOL last month entered a co-marketing deal with its corporate cousin Road Runner and its cable modem service, with whom it had a rocky relationship for years.

Early this month, for the first time, the number of U.S. broadband users overtook the number of subscribers to AOL or one of its affiliates.

AOL Just doesn't understand about choice

People don't want to be force fed video streams. They do it with AIM, they do it with the AOL welcome page on signon. There are no options to disable it or be selective about what you get. Most of the stuff that is piped-in via the welcome-page is objectionable garbage anyway. Just look at who gets to pick what you see on your welcome page. Certainly they are not anyone I would want to know in a personal relationship.