AOL UK promotes Steckler to managing director
AOL UK has promoted interactive advertising chief Michael Steckler to managing director, just two months after he joined the internet company from rival MSN. Steckler takes on the role immediately.
He joined AOL UK, part of AOL Europe, in July as vice-president of interactive marketing and was responsible for overseeing the growth of AOL’s UK advertising business.
At MSN, Steckler was business planning and development director for the Europe, Middle East and Africa at the Microsoft Online Services Group. Previously, he worked for Haymarket and as head of agency sales at Clear Channel International.
The promotion comes amid a series of changes for the network, a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner, which today (September 17) unveiled a global integrated advertising system called Platform A and announced it was moving its worldwide headquarters to New York from Dulles in Virginia.
It says Platform A will offer advertisers access to the largest internet-wide display advertising network and builds on its existing Advertising.com network and recent acquisitions of Tacoda, Third Screen Media, Lightningcast and Adtech.
A spokesman says the realignment marks the “final stage” in AOL’s transition from an internet access business to a global, ad-supported Web company. In October last year, Carphone Warehouse bought AOL’s UK access business, including its customer base management and infrastructure, leaving AOL to continue providing the co-branded portal, content and other audience services.
Separately, AOL has announced it had signed an agreement with Hewlett Packard (HP) to offer co-branded, localised versions of its portal, toolbar and search on the computer manufacturer’s desktop and notebook range. The co-branded portal is already available in the States.
