Rio No Vacation for AOL; Firm Remains Also-Ran in Exploding Market
The advertising slogan was supposed to trumpet the Bigfoot presence of America Online, stir consumer confidence and capture national attention. It said simply: "We're the biggest because we're the best."</br></br>In late August, the line did get national attention, but not the kind AOL Latin America wanted. After Brazil's leading Internet provider angrily challenged AOL's claim, a national consumer regulatory group forced the company to abandon the boast. Now, AOL billboards in Brazil sport a more softly spoken pitch, referring to convenience of access: "This is the easy way."</br></br>In its first foray into Latin America--among the world's fastest- growing Internet markets--AOL has had virtually nothing easy in Brazil. A clogged, highly complex market, a batch of unlucky breaks and what analysts call a series of strategic miscues have left the behemoth Internet service provider grasping for a place in an arena that experts predict will grow only more competitive in coming years.</br></br>The struggles of AOL's Latin America venture have included not only ad campaign troubles but a highly publicized software glitch, a domain-name crisis, management turmoil and a flaccid initial public offering. Analysts say those setbacks, along with the company's failure to capitalize on its powerful brand name, have led to AOL's surprisingly soft position in a country with roughly half of Latin America's Internet users.</br></br>The question now is whether AOL Latin America, a joint venture between the Dulles-based company and the Miami-based Cisneros Group, can recover from its stumbling start to forge a fresh, distinctive identity in this teeming market.