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 New York -- AOL has lost another top exec today at its advertising Platform-A, as Curt Viebranz apparently has been pushed off the unit. In his place, AOL is promoting Lynda Clarizio to president of Platform-A on Monday, to lead its division selling ads across the Web, as the Time Warner Inc. unit continues to remake its advertising business.
The head of AOL’s new Platform-A advertising unit since September, Viebranz is leaving the firm, the company would not say whether he was fired after being named head of Platform-A about six months ago.
Clarizio has been President of Advertising.com, one of the several parts that make up Platform-A. In this new, expanded role, Clarizio will lead the industry’s largest online advertising network, which offers the most comprehensive suite of marketing solutions powered by the Web’s best advertising technologies. She will report to Ron Grant, AOL’s president and COO.
“AOL has spent nearly $1 billion on online advertising acquisitions to build Platform-A.”
The promotion comes at a crucial time for AOL, which has placed a renewed emphasis on becoming a hub for ad sales across the Internet. Platform A, a unit created late last year to integrate AOL’s ad technology properties, includes the Advertising.com network and behavioral targeting firm Tacoda, acquired in July 2007.
“Lynda Clarizio is the perfect choice to lead Platform-A to its next stage of growth as we consolidate and integrate the organization, and focus on bringing our unmatched advertising network to market,” Grant said. “There is no one better qualified to do this than Lynda, whose track record at Advertising.com has been nothing short of stellar.”
Viebranz came to AOL last summer when it acquired Tacoda, of which he was chief executive officer. Viebranz’s departure from his short-term home comes almost exactly a month after his former colleague, Tacoda founder Dave Morgan, left AOL, where he had been serving as EVP of global advertising strategy. A perennial entrepreneur, Morgan left on his own accord to ponder his next startup.
“AOL has been on a buying binge, scooping up other online ad firms including AdTech, Buy.at, Lightningcast, Quigo, Third Screen Media, and Advertising.com.”
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to lead Platform-A,” Clarizio said.
“With Platform-A, we are creating a unified suite of marketing solutions to enable advertisers to harness the full power of digital media to meet their marketing needs,” Clarizio said. “We also offer publishers a comprehensive set of tools and technologies to manage and monetize their advertising inventory. As Platform-A evolves; we will be organizing ourselves to create stronger alignment among our teams to put us in the best possible position to achieve our strategic goals.”
“Before joining Advertising.com in May 2006, Clarizio was an Executive Vice President at AOL, responsible for strategy, finance and business development of AOL’s Audience business.” She has held several other positions throughout her nine years at AOL, including Senior Vice President for corporate strategic and financial planning and Senior Vice President for acquisitions and strategic investments. In the latter role, she led AOL’s acquisition of Advertising.com.
Clarizio came to AOL from the Washington D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter, where she was a partner for seven years, serving as one of AOL’s outside counsel on transactional matters. Lynda sits on the board of directors of Human Rights First and the Princeton Women in Leadership Steering Committee. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
The online ad market is hot--Google on Tuesday got final approval to buy DoubleClick; Microsoft acquired Aquantive; and Yahoo bought RightMedia and Blue Lithium.
Henry Blodget, citing an unidentified source, writes in his Silicon Valley Insider blog that Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes plans to sell or spin off AOL if the company has not turned itself around enough by mid-2008.
The executive shifts at AOL reflect the disruption in the overall online ad industry. By breaking up its ad properties and reorganizing its staff, AOL hopes to better compete with Google and what could become a much-stronger Yahoo, if Microsoft's bid for the company comes to fruition. To stave off the Microsoft grab, Time Warner is rumored to have discussed a possible merger of AOL and Yahoo.
“AOL appears to be feeling pressure from aggressive sales targets set against the backdrop of a slowing economy,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. “Some of the shake-up seems to be attributable to this, but I do not have insight into the internal politics.”
“Our strategy is to be able to offer the best possible solutions for advertisers,” Clarizio said in an interview. “If we can drive greater alignment within this organization, we should see an improvement in the numbers.”
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