A tale of two women superstars at AOL: now one is leaving
This is the tale of two marketing superstars at AOL. Allie Kline and Erika Nardini both joined the company in January 2013 - Nardini, as AOL's marketing chief for its advertising division, and Kline, as CMO of AOL's ad-tech division.
Allie Kline: she takes over
Now Nardini has decided to leave the company at the end of the year - and Kline will assume her duties in addition to her existing ones.
"Erika has decided to leave AOL at the end of 2014. We thank her for her contributions and wish her well in her next endeavor," said AOL spokeswoman Caroline Campbell in an emailed statement, quoted by AdAge.
"Allie is a proven strategic marketer who has led the transformation of AOL's platform business over the last two years. She will take on the larger global marketing role at AOL, as we continue to focus on video, programmatic and premium content solutions for brands, agencies and publishers."
As CMO of AOL Advertising, Nardini led marketing for AOL's ad products, managed internal communications and also oversaw AOL's creative services team. Kline focused on promoting AOL's ad-tech products that automate the sale of ads on and off AOL's sites.
Ad Age says Nardini was charged with touting the more brand-friendly ad opportunities on AOL's owned-and-operated properties, such as its "Rising Stars" interactive banner ads and the premium video it pitched at its annual Digital Content NewFronts presentation.
“Over the past 22 months, however, AOL's ad-tech and premium advertising businesses have begun to converge, with the ad-tech organization becoming the company's biggest revenue generator,” according to the magazine.
In the third quarter of 2014, AOL's overall advertising revenue rose by 18 per cent year-over-year to $473.4m. AOL's ad-tech division contributed the largest piece of that revenue among AOL's main revenue streams. The division's overall contribution grew by 44 per cent year-over-year to $271.9m.
Meanwhile the company's revenue from display ads shown on its own sites slipped, albeit by less than one per cent, to $141.5m despite unspecified growth in the average price of those ads.
Nardini has a strong background working with brand advertisers on so-called premium packages. Prior to joining AOL in January 2013, she had been Demand Media's senior VP of sales and marketing , bringing brand advertisers into the fold. She previously held roles at Yahoo and Microsoft charged with securing branded content deals
The American Advertising Federation inducted Nardini into its Advertising Hall of Achievement last Tuesday, two days before she is said to have resigned from AOL.
She wasn't the only one recently honored, said AdAge. M Kline received the ad:tech Industry Achievement Award earlier this month.