MediaPost: AOL and Agency Relations - A Follow-Up

AOL's VA campus

In his OnlineSpin column, Tom Hespos offers some insight into the industry's reaction to AOL's decision to eliminate its director of agency relations position. In a conversation Hespos had with AOL Executive VP of Interactive Marketing Michael Barrett, Barret revealed former Director of Agency Relations John Messina had done a "decent job of addressing the agency community," but also acknowledged some continuing problem areas which need improvement. Areas of concern have been inventory concerns, long RFP turnaround times and heavy amounts of paperwork.

While contract paperwork has always been a nightmare, Barrett now says AOL will accept anything an agency sends provided the terms are acceptable. AOL is also addressing inventory concerns by placing sales planners in regional offices to centrally coordinate with New York. AOL has also loosened its restriction on the types of rich media it will accept as well as the use of third party ad serving.

Regarding agency relations, Barrett says other AOL senior level staff will become more involved with agencies and will now handle many of the functions previously handled by Messina. Spinning it positively, Barrett says, "It's like we've moved from one person to eleven people in agency relations."