A Gazillion More Free Hours From AOL? Gee, Thanks.

Fast Company, March, 2004 by Lucas Conley

They come with Blockbuster videos and Burger King Whoppers, in cereal boxes, bank statements, even boxed with Omaha Steaks. And, as nearly every American with an address can attest, they come in the mail. By the millions. AOL itself acknowledges the onslaught in a current, self-parodying ad. So we have to wonder: Just how many free-trial discs does AOL send out? And is it good marketing?

AOL won't discuss numbers. Never has. It refuses to comment on estimates that it blankets the globe with anywhere from 40 million to 300 million CDs annually. It claims only that its campaign serves up "millions of subscribers" a year, just like McDonald's. That's not a completely satisfying response. So Fast Company put its crack mystery-explaining unit on the case.

We tracked down...

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