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By Matt Hines, 12 January 2004 14:05

NEWS

Web giant AOL said on Friday that it is replacing its top marketing and advertising executive, Lisa Brown, as the company struggles to spur new growth in its ad sales.

Brown, whose official title was vice president of interactive marketing, was elevated to the position in May 2003, after serving as executive vice president of AOL's marketing strategy group for less than a year. An AOL representative declined to comment on the nature of Brown's departure.

The company also refused to comment on whether it had already chosen Brown's replacement. However, a source close to the situation said the company is talking to Michael Kelly, an advertising executive at AOL parent company Time Warner, about an expanded role in managing AOL's operations.

Under that plan, the advertising unit would also undergo restructuring to bring ad sales and placement teams closer together, and Michael Barrett, AOL executive vice president of worldwide interactive ad sales, would take on many of Brown's daily responsibilities, the source said.

Brown was given the task of replacing Robert Sherman, formerly the president of ad sales at Time Warner Cable, who was persuaded to come out of retirement in April 2002 to help resuscitate sales. During Sherman's tenure, which ended when he retired for a second time last year, AOL laid off 120 employees from its advertising sales unit, or an estimated 17 per cent of the group's staff.

Ad sales have become a sore spot for the giant ISP, which has come under increasing pressure to improve its financial performance, after dragging down Time Warner's earnings and stock price. The giant media company merged with AOL to become AOL Time Warner before dropping AOL from its name in 2003.

AOL spokesman Jim Whitney said in a phone interview that the company remains bullish in regards to its recent performance.

"We've made a lot of progress in advertising sales over the last year and improved relationships with advertisers and agencies," he said. "Basically, we're selling a lot more ads."