AOL Local gets Mike DeLuca as the New Head of Sales
Taking a step ahead to strengthen its position, AOL has appointed Mike DeLuca as the Head of Sales for AOL Local, a former SVP of Sales and Marketing, Yodle. The prime responsibility given to DeLuca is to build and oversee a regional and local sales team and sell Patch, City’s Best, MapQuest, and Wow! Deal of the Day properties along with the AOL mail and geo-targeted AOL.com.
“We are thrilled to have Mike on board to build and lead our regional and local sales efforts across our local offerings. Mike and his group will partner with the AOL Advertising sales team – which already has relationships with the top advertisers and agencies in the world – to offer everyone from the smallest businesses on Main Street to the largest global marketers a comprehensive suite of local properties and marketing solutions,” said Jon Brod, President of AOL Ventures, Local and Mapping. “Patch, City’s Best, MapQuest and Wow! Deal of the Day have been focused on building and refining their consumer experiences in 2010. Now we are aligning that goal with an amplified effort to increase sales on the local, regional and national level in 2011.”
Mike DeLuca will also be responsible for enhancing the overall revenues at local and regional levels. He has proven himself as a good leader during his tenure with Yodle, where his sales team grew from only 25 to 150 members across the country. He has also served as V.P. Sales, Yahoo! HotJobs and handled a team of over 200 people.
AOL is gradually shifting towards online video, becoming a media network and advertising will be key to its development and survival, as the company has had several stumbles these past few years. Just a few days back, it announced its partnership with IAC’s Electus production studio and also ventured with Vuguru to develop its video content platform.
It also provided funding of $3 million to Movieclips, leveraging demand around monetizing online video. Finally, it achieved another significant growth level as Jeff Bronikowski, Senior Vice President of Yahoo! left the company for AOL and joined on the same position.
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