Is Levick's Title the Key to Platform-A's Fate?

ClickZ isn’t the only industry trade to notice the absence of Platform-A in today’s AOL press release about the appointment of Kate Burns as head of its European Sales. But it’s worth noting here.

This has some wondering what the future of Platform-A is. Here’s my guess: AOL is phasing out the brand name, after only a couple years since its big unveiling. The biggest hint isn’t today’s press release. It’s Jeff Levick’s title. Levick replaced short-lived Platform-A President Greg Coleman earlier this year. Coleman had replaced Lynda Clarizio, who also shared the Platform-A Prez title.

Levick’s title? It’s AOL Global Advertising and Strategy President. What happened to the Platform-A?

If the company will indeed sweep the brand under the rug, you’ve gotta wonder why. Is it confusing to media buyers? Has the industry, which had grown accustomed to using the Advertising.com name, simply not embraced it? Does AOL have some sort of re-branding up its sleeve? All that may be made known after CEO Tim Armstrong’s first 100 days…the clock is ticking.

All this has me curious about how much money will be down the drain if AOL does ditch the Platform-A brand. How much did the company spend developing the name and logo? That logo (I think it’s kinda cool but my colleague Zach Rodgers disagrees.) was revealed not much more than a year ago.