AOL, American Airlines, Netcentives Partner for Rewards Network

America Online on Monday launched a new online-offline consumer loyalty network with American Airlines, and chose rewards player Netcentives to provide the technology to power it and a new rewards program for ICQ.

AOL is also taking a significant stake of Netcentives, but financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

The multi-year deal calls for Netcentives to be the exclusive provider of rewards programs for AOL, including the AOL AAdvantage program, jointly administered with American Airlines, which is expected to launch this Spring.

The new three-year program will allow members of AOL, or of American Airlines’ AAdvantage program, to have more opportunities to redeem their loyalty points, which will include buying consumer products, AOL service, air travel and more. The two companies have also agreed to launch a multi-million-dollar cross-marketing campaign to their millions of members.

“We are essentially creating a whole new currency for the online generation,” says Don Carty, chairman and chief executive officer of American Airlines.

AOL has also tapped Netcentives to help it launch “ICQ Click Rewards,” which will give loyal users of the instant messaging service an opportunity to earn ClickMiles and redeem them for products. The program is expected to begin later this year.