The partial unveiling of the new AOL identity earlier this week produced quite a few smiles, snickers, moments of reflection in the brand community. How do we explain our rush to judgment for the new AOL logo, compliments of Wolff Olins?

Well-established companies with strong recognition face an interesting challenge when they seek to redirect or revitalize their brand. Change needs to be signaled and a new message is called for, yet there might be considerable value in preserving the existing brand mark. It’s a conundrum: how can a brand identity be redirected without also changing the company’s mark? The answer is to look not at the mark itself, but at what surrounds it and supports it: the context.

I recently had the chance to contribute to Tony Spaeth’s Identity Forum, the leading on-line community for identity and branding professionals.

I began thinking about whether there are identity solutions that are so well done, so brilliantly executed and so strategically precise that they should never be changed.