The AA: reinventing a national motoring brand online

The client

The AA is one of the UK's best-known motoring and breakdown brands: more than 10 million customers, roadside assistance, insurance, loans and travel services. In November 1999 Centrica (owner of British Gas) bought the AA for around £1.1 billion and brought in netdecisions to relaunch aa.com: not a brochure refresh, but a new online proposition for a brand that had to stay dependable while reaching a younger web audience.

We worked on the account at NetDecisions / Agilisys. Jonathan Porter led the design team. Nick Brown was lead designer on the relaunch (Nick Brown on LinkedIn).

The challenge

The existing site carried motoring content and hotel listings, but feedback said the online proposition lacked clarity. Centrica wanted to exploit the AA brand and the site's business potential without losing the trust built over a century. The relaunch had to define what aa.com was for, then ship it fast.

What we did

NetDecisions assigned its best user-experience modellers, business strategists and brand architects. Working with consumer focus groups and AA functional teams, the agency shaped three major content and business areas:

| Area | What it did | | — | — | | Travelwatch | Traffic information and maps; SMS, WAP and email alerts; route planner | | Getaway | Hotels, restaurants and travel drawn from AA databases | | All About Cars | Insurance, inspections, advice; buy, sell and value cars online |

Nick Brown led the web design execution. Jonathan led the design team overseeing delivery. The agency rebuilt the brand for the web: a younger target audience, a fresh, simple look replacing the heavy yellow site, and a fully functional relaunch in six months. Delivery used extreme programming (developers working in pairs for speed and quality). NetDecisions' WAP and interactive TV teams extended the experience to wireless and iTV.

Our approach

One ally for every trip. The brand map positioned aa.com as the motorist's partner whether they were commuting, travelling abroad or buying and selling a car. Channels mattered: this was not web-only thinking in 2000, but web + SMS + WAP + interactive TV from the same strategic frame.

Outcome

A complete repositioning of one of Britain's most trusted consumer brands online, delivered on the timeline Centrica needed after the UK's largest consumer-services acquisition of the era. The AA sat alongside British Gas in the same Centrica portfolio; netdecisions' July 2000 client list named both Centrica and the Automobile Association among its board-level relationships.

Context & coverage

The AA acquisition was Centrica's bold move to become a multi-service consumer giant. The aa.com relaunch was the digital proof that the brand could modernise without sounding like a startup. NetDecisions described the technical approach as pioneering for its time (paired coding, multi- channel delivery).

• Centrica history: 1999 AA acquisition for ~£1.1bn.
• NetDecisions press release summary, July 2000: Travelwatch / Getaway / All About Cars, six-month delivery, extreme programming, WAP/iTV (ingested primary source).