AOL’s CMO on rebuilding its reputation and why marketers need to be uncomfortable

When telecom giant Verizon acquired AOL last June, it had faced a tough couple of years. AOL had originally merged with Time Warner in 2000 as part of an eye watering $164bn deal, but was spun off as an independent company nine years later due to disappoint revenues. At the time, revenues had dropped 17% year on year to $810m.
Since then, the company has put “guns, money and steel” behind programmatic technology. It also put a heavy focus on content, investing heavily in brands inclu