<font><span>AOL Rolls Out 25 City Guides Under City’s Best Banner </span></font>

AOL is looking to resurrect its local entertainment franchise City’s Best.The company on Wednesday (Oct. 13) will roll out 25 local city guides under the AOL City’s Best banner in the majority of major U.S. Markets, including New York, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and Miami. Much like AOL’s Digital Cities franchise from the 1990s, and its more recent incarnation under the City’s Best brand, the new local channels (all accessible via citysbest.com) will cover local restaurants, bars and entertainment.However, AOL is relaunching City’s Best during an era where the competition is fiercer than ever. Besides longtime rival Citysearch, sites and mobile such as Yelp, Chowhound, UrbanSpoon—along with hundreds of local blogs—all voraciously cover local entertainment options.Yet AOL is banking on the cross-promotional power of its two other key local ventures, Mapquest and Patch—its fast growing network of local news sites—to get City’s Best back on the radar. “This is really the third leg of our local stool,” said Jon Brod, president of AOL Ventures, Local and Mapping. For example, content from Patch will be regularly surfaced on local City’s Best sites, and vice versa.But the key differentiator this time around, said Brod, is that the City’s Best local channels will blend original editorial (such as reviews) with community. The company has hired five regional editors who will oversee five markets each.Those editors will look to encourage lots of user participation, such as organized votes on the best fish tacos in Seattle. Fans will be able to vote on the Web or via City’s Best applications for iPhone and Android.Initially, City’s Best site will carry standard banner ads and sponsorships, but plans are in the works to launch a self serve ad product for local businesses down the road. Plus, AOL will look to expand City’s Best to at least 40 markets eventually, including international locales, said Brod.

Performance Marketing

AOL Rolls Out 25 City Guides Under City’s Best Banner

Mike Shields

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