AOL Highlights Platform-A Integration Focus With Unified Search Marketing Services

(PaidContent.org)  This story was written by David Kaplan.

---

AOL's (NYSE: TWX) Platform-A President Lynda Clarizio appears to moving quickly on her promise to quicken the pace of integration at the Time Warner company's ad group. AOL announced that Platform-A has combined contextual ad targeter Quigo's FeedPoint search marketing tool with Advertising.com's OutSearch data analysis product.  While AOL said the move was done to enhance its search engine marketing services, it's hard not to see this in light of last week's ouster of Platform-A's Curt Viebranz, who sources said was dismissed after AOL execs felt he was moving too slowly on integrating the network's various units and services.

Secondly, the combination of the OutSearch's "bid management solutions" for buying keywords and FeedPoint's analytic tools, also highlights another recent area AOL hopes to be more active in: ecommerce. In February, AOL acquired UK-based affiliate marketing network Buy.at, which was intended to round out Platform-A's ad network offerings with online sales and performance-based marketing solutions. Release