AOL Names E-Commerce Vet to Interactive Marketing Post

A week after James de Castro left his post as president of interactive services, America Online chief Jonathan Miller brought in a colleague from his days at USA Interactive to be executive vice president of interactive marketing.

In her new post, Lisa Brown will head up a marketing solutions group, which will work with AOL’s marketing, brand and broadband divisions to devise sponsorships that take advantage of AOL’s huge 35 million subscriber base.

Brown headed USA’s electronic solutions group from August 2000 until March 2001, under Miller’s information and services division. She left that post to serve as chief executive of a USA Interactive company, e-commerce technology provider Styleclick.

“Lisa brings to AOL a powerful combination of sales, marketing and e-commerce expertise,” Miller said. “She understands what it takes to provide a real e-commerce solution and is passionate about delivering an interactive experience that meets partner needs and takes full advantage of the transaction opportunities unique to the online medium.”

Brown will report to Robert Sherman, the president of interactive marketing.

Her appointment comes as AOL is in the midst of a strategic review, at the behest of corporate parent AOL Time Warner . AOL is expected to present a plan for reversing its stagnant growth to the board by the end of the month or early December.

With his own background in e-commerce, Miller was expected to put more emphasis on leveraging AOL’s large, loyal subscriber base to establish buying relationships. AOL has been hit hard by the downturn in Internet advertising, seeing its ad revenues in the latest quarter decline 48 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Brown said she would help AOL develop marketing programs that take advantage of AOL’s size to draw in advertisers.

“No company is better positioned than America Online to help companies harness the power of the online medium to build brand awareness and drive transactions,” she said.

Meanwhile, AOL was recently named in a lawsuit filed by the nation’s third-largest pension fund over its dealings with failed online real estate company Homestore.com.