AOL named Bob Lord, previously head of ad agency Publicis Groupe’s digital technologies division, to run its advertising group, and AOL also officially announced a pact with Publicis to jointly offer “live” video and web ads across multiple screens via its digital network.
Lord will join the company as CEO of AOL Networks, effective Aug. 1, reporting to AOL topper Tim Armstrong. Lord replaces AOL Networks chief Ned Brody, who left in April to join Yahoo as head of Americas sales. However, Brody had a noncompete clause in his AOL contract and AOL and Yahoo have yet to resolve the dispute, according to AllThingsD.
At Publicis, Lord ran the company’s 7,500-employee Digital Technologies Division, which includes Razorfish, the DigitasLBi network and Denuo. He will manage AOL’s partnership with Publicis in conjunction with three Publicis execs: Rishad Tobaccowala, chair of Razorfish/DigitasLBi; Laura Desmond, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group; and Tom Bernardin, CEO of Leo Burnett Co.
The Publicis AOL Live (PAL) joint venture will include dedicated employees from each company. The two companies began testing live advertising on AOL’s websites earlier this year and are currently running live ads across AOL, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Engadget, Patch, MapQuest and more than 250 publishers in the AOL Networks syndicated network.
PAL expects to begin offer live advertising to all Publicis Groupe clients starting Sept. 1.
