• Ad Age, Wednesday, April 29, 2009 11 AM

In an interview at the 4A's annual leadership conference, Tim Armstrong discussed the many challenges he faces as the new CEO of AOL. Since taking over as CEO, Armstrong has launched a review of the company's vast array of brands, making no promises about the long-term survival of any of AOL's current offerings, including its MediaGlow publishing division and Platform A advertising platform.

"The understanding of the value of brands at AOL has gotten a little gray over time," Armstrong said. "There are cases where we have tens of millions of people touching a brand every day," but people inside the company have forgotten the need to improve the products behind those brands, he said. Armstrong added that the future of AOL is as a "great, great, great internet products company." Advertisers, meanwhile, "are not paying enough to put their ads on AOL content."

Interestingly, Armstrong is turning to AOL's old guard as he tries to sort out the company's future, consulting with company co-founder Steve Case as well as Ted Leonsis, AOL's vice chairman emeritus.

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