Internet users of a certain age will remember America Online for its ubiquitous compact discs offering 100 hours of free Internet. Today, marketers may come to know AOL as a programmatic marketing platform.
AOL is a web services company, and operates content brands such as TechCrunch and Engadget, and delivers services to consumers, publishers and advertisers. Its latest is One by AOL, which the company describes as an open, unified programmatic platform that allows marketers to optimize their campaign goals against all screens, formats and inventory types. It delivers a holistic view of marketing spend and performance across all screens, including TV. AOL plans to consolidate most of its programmatic brands in line with the One platform.
“AOL’s mission has at its heart the ‘simplification’ of the digital space by unleashing the world’s best builders of culture and code, and today’s launch of ONE furthers that mission significantly,” said AOL chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong, in a statement.
According to AOL, One will be a simpler tool for marketers by integrating all buying channels, audience management platforms, and multi-trust attribution into one platform. By unifying multiple data sources, it gives marketers a holistic view of the consumer journey through the marketing funnel and allows for a quicker journey from insight to action.
“With the launch of One, we are helping solve real business problems for marketers,” said AOL president Bob Lord, in a statement. “One allows advertisers and agencies to use data as the foundation of their marketing strategy, looking at consumers through a single, media-agnostic lens, from Web to TV. Connecting audience data to media exposures throughout the purchase path lets brands accurately measure return on their marketing dollars.”
The Canadian office of digital and media marketing firm Dentsu Aegis Network was a beta customer for AOL One.
“Our strategy in market is to offer the best-in-class solutions for advertisers; with our clients approval and in partnering with the first fully open platform in Canada we are able to leverage our existing data partners on one platform, solving real challenges that marketers face and ultimately simplifying a sometimes fragmented landscape,” said Hisham Ghostine from Dentsu Aegis Network, in a statement.
AOL is also consolidating the brand portfolio within its technology stack and rebranding it under the One by AOL brand, including Adap.tv, Adap.tv Marketplace, AdLearn Open Platform and Convertro.