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Web-only Exclusives
November 30, 2000

From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War
A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix

From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead
Bad news for the Philippines - and some others

From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies
Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights?

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SEARCH    GO

World Denimation
How to conquer the world, quietly
By STUART WHITMORE

October 1, 1999
Web posted at 4:00 p.m. Hong Kong time, 4:00 a.m. EDT


    INTELLIGENCE
Helping Hand Gets Slapped
Hong Kong's would-be rescuers fall victim to cross-strait politics
- Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999

Reading the Entrails
If the chart-readers are correct, Asia may fall with the Dow. Or not
- Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1999

The Week Ahead
The going gets tougher for the peacekeepers in East Timor - and for the military and its backers in Jakarta
- Monday, Sept. 27, 1999

Tales from an IPO
It's late, you're thousands of miles from home and your company is about to go public. That's no excuse not to phone your mother.
- Friday, Sept. 24, 1999

  ALSO IN ASIAWEEK
Daily Briefing
Today's headlines from across the region

  TIME ASIA
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Daily commentary from the editors of TIME Asia

Market Q&A
Each business evening with analysts around the region

If it's Tuesday, then this must be Hong Kong. The America Online juggernaut steamrolled into town this week. The Internet behemoth grabbed its pink crayon and colored in another territory as it furthered the reach of its empire in a quest for world domination.

Oops, I'm sorry, that's Microsoft. Let's try again:

On Tuesday, America Online, the world's number one Internet service provider, brought its service to the people of Hong Kong, furthering the reach of its global community that now links users from Australia to England, Japan to Germany.

There, much better.

This is a lesson in the power of goodwill. Microsoft and America Online are not so different. Both are big U.S. technology companies, both are dominant in their fields, both are spreading their influence far beyond their homeland. But only one of them is in court being threatened with corporate dismemberment. And only one of them has a boss who is routinely reviled as the devil by detractors.

How does AOL do it? My theory: Denim.

Yes, denim. You never see CEO Steve Case without a denim shirt with the AOL logo tattooed on the pocket. It's practically corporate uniform, as evidenced at the launch of AOL Hong Kong, where the company bigwigs lined up on stage in their blue AOL shirts and khaki pants. Others in the same garb milled around the venue. It's impossible not to imagine the company's Dulles, Virginia HQ being filled with more of the same. Two-tone drones in the AOL hive.

What the denim says is this: We are like you. The message is subliminal. We are denim. You can't not like denim.

Sure, the company's success can also be attributed to its masterful business plan. AOL sticks to the middle-of-the-road and so tackles the masses on their own terms. By making sure it says "telephone" and "television" and "just like" as often as "Internet," it ensures that venturing online for the first time doesn't seem like a big leap into the digital void. Case adds to the effect by being the most harmless frontman in town. His chubby-cheeked, poker-face demeanor denies all notion of racy excitement. The dullard from Dulles, a man you can trust.

But would it mean a thing without the denim?

Think about it: for Microsoft, and many others, success came with a bitter consumer backlash. And how harmless does Bill Gates have to act before people stop calling him the spawn of Satan? Despite his earnest, childlike manner, fluffy sweaters and good works, people still call his company evil.

But isn't it always the quiet ones you have to watch? Tight-lipped Case and AOL now have 18 million members. They are in 14 countries, including Hong Kong, Japan and Australia. They're taking over the world! Not that I mind. At the Hong Kong launch AOL handed over the usual grabbag of freebies to encourage me to laud, and register for, their service. It included an AOL denim shirt. I have to say, it goes great with pair of khaki chinos. Very solid stitching.

Now where do I sign?

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