GEMA members were treated to an inside look at AOL’s future and some of the other coming changes in the online sector of the media and entertainment industry at the latest GEMA LA Breakfast Series roundtable with Juliana Jaoudi, MBA’96 and Director of Entertainment Sales, AOL Media Networks and Moviefone. This latest breakfast roundtable was held on April 14 at the Hollywood offices of GEMA LA
Breakfast Series’ Director, Jeff Proctor, F'88, who is also Executive Producer, Sports, KCBS/KCAL.

As AOL focuses on its open-Web strategy, it’s betting more heavily than ever before on alternative ways to reach key audience segments, Jaoudi says. What that means for consumers is they can expect to see more of AOL and its portfolio of brands and services not only on the web, but also across multiple platforms: from TV screens to mobile phones. AOL will continue to showcase premiere and original content from Time Inc. properties, the major television networks and producers, record labels and movie studios on the AOL Service and increasingly on AOL.com and AOL’s other Web properties such as AIM, Netscape and Moviefone.

From MSB to WWW

A Southern California native who lived and worked in France after her undergraduate years, Jaoudi chose Georgetown’s international MBA program for its worldly perspective. While on the Hilltop, Jaoudi says she loved the school’s cosmopolitan orientation.

The only problem, she says, was what to do when she got out.

“At that time, it seemed like there were five things that MBA grads could do --- operations, finance, marketing, consulting or logistics. And I hated all of them” Jaoudi jokes.

Wanting to stay in the DC area, Julie opted to join the rapidly growing AOL across the border in Virginia. “It seemed like the perfect opportunity to do a little bit of everything. More entrepreneurial than anything else out there.”

Her career began helping the company allocate resources in the uncharted online world. “We were just trying to figure out what content would work online and how to monetize the properties we were creating,” Jaoudi says.

She gravitated to the entertainment space --- “I’ve always loved music and movies. . .not to mention reading People magazine!” she admits --- and made the portal’s music channel an early priority. When AOL merged with Time Warner she moved back to Paris to help build the company’s European interactive marketing group. Three years ago, her latest career incarnation brought her to Los Angeles to join AOL Media Networks Entertainment Sales team. “I went from a fabulous place in the 17th Arrondissement to a very beige apartment in Santa Monica.”

Even more disconcerting than her new surroundings was the reality of being a media salesperson in an unfriendly marketplace.

“After several years of big deals and ‘easy money’ during the Internet boom, I landed in LA to discover the US online advertising market had taken a downturn. All of a sudden, sales wasn’t as fun. Cold calling was hard. I hated the rejection.”

Persistence paid off, she said. Today, she loves her job because of the unique opportunities it presents. “I don’t want to sell spots,” she says. “Online is different. It’s a sophisticated sell, and requires a lot of research and creative thinking. Interactive sales reps understand all forms of media. We’ve spent our careers teaching traditional marketers how interactive marketing actually works. That it actually does work.”

Entertainment Central to AOL’s Future
What’s more, her move to Hollywood has put her right in the center of the action for the rapidly transforming AOL.

According to Jaoudi, the entertainment industry has been a mainstay of AOL’s business from the early boom years to the present. “Studios got online advertising very early. They recognized it was a great way to reach the early adopters, the tastemakers.”

Today, Jaoudi says, entertainment marketing increasingly calls for creating innovative partnerships. AOL delivers exclusive content to draw a popular show or film’s fan base to its sites. Examples of these features include AOL-hosted show synopses such as ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” extended clips, and movie features such as the “Unscripted” series. The premiere ”Unscripted” featured Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise interviewing one another based on questions Moviefone users submitted about the film Collateral. “These are the sorts of things that will drive traffic and keep the site relevant to consumers,” Jaoudi says.

As for AOL’s future? “In the short term, we’re aggressively growing our unique visitors and audience by offering more of our content to the web. Today, consumers can already access brands such as AOL.com, Moviefone, and AIM directly on the web. We’ll expand these to include original content and services later this year,” Jaoudi says.

And in the long term?

“We are going to be a truly viable distribution network. What’s more, it won’t matter how you’re accessing our content and services. Broadband, dial-up, wireless. . .AOL’s properties will continue to be ones consumers care most about,”she says.

Furthermore, Jaoudi believes, the future looks very bright.

“AOL is on the brink of greatness. . .again.”




Steve Schneider (F'95) has worked as a writer and editor in New York City, London, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Tulsa, Oklahoma. He currently lives and writes in Los Angeles.