“Logo Schmogo” Stuart Elliott, NY Times — or why all the fuss about the new AOL logo?

The quote “logo schmogo” is from a phone conversation with Stuart Elliott a couple of years ago about a rebranding program.  He wanted to know about the advertising campaign.  The media spend.  Ad creative.  Logo changes are irrelevant to his readership, he said.  So he never ran an article about a logo change that actually drove business results.

The ultimate irony is that Elliott has devoted a large amount of newsprint today to discuss the new AOL logo.  All of the sudden the logo’s the thing.  An ad campaign is just a possibility, nothing definite.  So why all the fuss about the new AOL logo by Stuart Elliott?  What ever happened to “logo schmogo”?

Which brings me to the question of the day — how much value is being created by the new AOL visual identity that is being unleashed on us in early December?  Everyone will have an opinion on that question (as do I).  In a pre-emptive strike by AOL, they have tried to insulate themselves from the negative opinions.  From today’s NY Times:

Whatever AOL does or does not do, Ms. Marquess [of AOL] said, there will be gibes from critics, whom she called “the snarkies” after the snarky comments they invariably make.