AOL's Patch Boosts Hyperlocal Ads, E-Commerce

Two announcements from AOL’s Patch network of community news and blogs shows how the platform is expanding its reach in hyperlocal content and services.

First, a partnership with American Express to simplify digital payments and local deals redemption via Serve, AmEx’s next-generation, open payments platform.

By adding Serve to AOL's Patch Deals platform, consumers and merchants both benefit.

Local residents save money on local high-quality goods and services in their communities, while SMB’s (small-and-medium-sized businesses) connect with target customers, promote their products, and drive foot traffic — while also positioning Patch's local content for e-commerce.

Users will be able to sign up for Serve accounts on Patch sites this fall, and use a co-branded card - eliminating coupons and codes, with access to Patch’s network of more than 850,000 small business listings in 800 communities in 20 states and Washington, D.C.

“Our collaboration with AOL’s Patch increases the scale and reach of the Serve platform and helps bridge the divide between online commerce and offline deals in a way that benefits merchants and consumers,” stated Dan Schulman, Group President, Enterprise Growth, American Express. 

The second example of how AOL's Patch is enhancing its hyperlocal focus: the new collaboration between Patch and Geomentum, the largest hyperlocal ad agency in the US, giving national advertisers greater digital access to customers at the local level.

“Establishing partnerships with agencies is one of the pillars of our strategy for monetizing the remarkable platform we’ve created with our sites,” said Warren Webster, President of Patch Media. “We want to help marketers connect directly with engaged and passionate customers in Patch communities. 

The deal enables Geomentum, a division of IPG’s Mediabrands, to deliver scaled digital advertising through locally-versioned campaigns on Patch sites. 

“Combining Geomentum’s precise, ZIP-level planning and targeting with Patch’s rich neighborhood content gives us a unique vehicle for delivering localized, digital messaging in an engaging way to thousands of neighborhoods,” said Sean Finnegan, CEO of Geomentum. 

It’s a good match, Patch and Geomentum, one that accelerates the “newspaper-to-digital migration” for retail clients, big and small, national and neighborhood, as Patch claims additional digital turf, the elixir of hyper-local.