Company: AOL, New York, NY U.S.A.
Company Description: AOL Inc. is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers.
Nomination Category: Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Executive – Service Businesses – More Than 2,500 Employees
Nomination Title: Erin Clift, Senior Vice President of Global Sales Development
Describe for the judges the activities and accomplishments of the nominated executive during the eligibility period (up to 500 words):
Erin Clift is AOL’s Senior Vice President of Global Sales Development. She
manages AOL’s agency relations, oversees global partnerships and evaluates media
products and technology for companies both domestic and abroad. With over 150
people reporting into her, Erin and her team are responsible for creating and
packaging all of the advertising experiences at AOL for clients.
Erin was the driving force behind the reorganization of AOL’s North American
sales force over the last year. She led the charge as we restructured the direct
sales force to focus on categories and top customers - a specific set of
customers that represent a majority of spending in the brand ads space, and she
launched an additional sales channel to sell and service mid-sized advertising
agencies and clients. Additionally, in her first year at AOL, Erin led the
business marketing team's effort to launch a new AOL Advertising trade site. The
site helps clients clearly understand AOL's offerings by target audiences -
which is how a majority of brands approach display advertising, instead of per
media site.
With this new organizational structure in place in addition to a robust business
marketing effort, Erin took AOL’s new messaging to advertisers and agencies,
hosting more than 75 Agency Summits to better position the company’s mission and
offerings. The summits provided a forum for AOL executives to show how they are
reinventing the AOL brand and differentiating it for advertisers under the new
leadership aligned to a very focused content strategy.
One of her most notable and creative deals at AOL in the last year is
Cambio.com. Cambio is an online destination combining original programming with
interactive, informative, entertaining, up-close and real content for teens with
today's top stars. Erin led the execution of the partnership pulling AOL
together with its partners, The Jonas Group and MGX Lab. The site is more than
just another teen offering; it’s the first-of-its-kind for AOL and for the 13-18
year old audience, allowing teens to interact directly with their favorite
celebrities and artists. This JV deal marked a new model for AOL: identify the
white spaces online, find the best partners and create incredible unique and
original experiences for both consumers and advertisers.
Erin isn't just an outstanding AOL executive, keeping the sales organization
running like a well oiled machine. She's an outstanding woman in the business
world as well. She sits on the Advertising Educational Federation Board of
Directors, DMG Media, and serves as a judge for the Interactive Advertising
Bureau’s Mixx Awards. She is also a frequent speaker at industry events like
AdWeek, OMMA, NEEDHAM and many others.
List the URLs (web addresses) of any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that you would like the judges to see that support your entry. IMPORTANT: List each URL on a separate line, begin each URL with http://, and enclose each URL in square brackets. For example, [http://www.yourcompany.com/pressrelease.html]:
http://corp.aol.com/2010/07/27/official-launch-of-cambio-from-aol-jonas-group-mgx-lab-present/
http://corp.aol.com/2010/06/21/ipgs-mediabrands-and-aol-partner-to-re-invent-digital-retail-ad/
http://designtaxi.com/news/32097/AOL-Mediabrands-Partner-to-Create-New-Online-Shopping-Solutions/
http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=143465
http://www.clickz.com/3635681
http://advertising.aol.com/audiences
http://advertising.aol.com/about-us/leadership-team/erin-clift
http://mixx-awards.com/762268/judging#eclift
http://www.aef.com/about/6001
Provide a brief biography of the nominated executive (up to 100 words):
Erin Clift is the Senior Vice President of AOL’s Global Sales Development and is
responsible for expanding global partnerships with agencies and the overall
positioning of AOL Advertising. She works to create unique opportunities for
advertisers within AOL’s Advertising network and other properties. Erin came to
AOL from Google, where she ran the company’s entire advertising agency strategy
for North America. Previously, she was the Director of Marketing at Oprah.com.
Erin serves on the board of several industry organizations including IAB. She is
a graduate of Indiana University and resides in New York with her husband and
two children.
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