America Online Inc said Tuesday that it has acquired total ownership of Digital Marketing Services Inc, the joint venture it formed in 1995 with the MARC Group Inc to provide online marketing programs and market research. AOL had already held a majority stake in the company and terms of the transaction for the remaining portion were not disclosed.
Since its founding, DMS has been the exclusive provider of AOL’s commerce-activating incentive program, AOL Rewards, and has also operated the online research service, Opinion Place – which allows marketers to conduct custom research through surveys answered by AOL members. Last year, DMS claims to have conducted over 1.5 million online interviews for various Fortune 500 companies.
As a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL, DMS will now develop rewards and research programs across many of AOL’s brands, including Digital City, ICQ and CompuServe. DMS founder Dennis Gonier will remain president of the unit and will also become senior vice president of the AOL interactive properties group.
