At Search Starts Here: AOL’s Christian Dwyer Charts MapQuest’s Future

Local Search Association — “Search Starts Here”

Headline Address: Christian Dwyer, Senior VP and GM, MapQuest
Moderator: Matt Booth, Chief Strategy Officer, ILM Program Director, BIA/Kelsey

AOL’s MapQuest has undergone many transformations over the years, changing owners, business models and leadership teams as it adjusts to new threats and opportunities. It has consistently survived and thrived through these changes. MapQuest’s Chris Dwyer offered his insights into how the company has successfully managed through transformation over the years.

Dwyer started at MapQuest in 2004 and rose to his currently position in 2007. He has been steadily remaking the service according to a long-term road map designed to enhance the value of the user experience. This ranged from updating the old 1996 logo and page to its current look emphasizing simple searches for turn-by-turn directions, fewer ads, easy maps, social (MapQuest Vibe) and featured services like National Parks.

MapQuest Screen Shot

Dwyer said the focus to reengineer MapQuest led to the new search interface, putting everything above the fold and removing 67 percent of the ads as many were judged to be not relevant to consumer nor valuable to advertiser. The site now ranks 16th in mobile search sites and draws 40 million users per month.

Using social signals and location, ads can be better targeted to where the user is and what his or her interests are. These big data solutions really help improve the consumer experience and deliver more relevant ads.

MapQuest Vibes encourages users to plan and share trips, and inspires them to collect, organize, share trip info.

BIA/Kelsey’s Matt Booth, who moderated the session, observed that, “MapQuest used to be the place to go — just like the Yellow Pages were the place to go. What’s to be learned by directories from the MapQuest transformation?”

Dwyer responded: “Make the decision to commit. You can’t stand still. And my biggest advice is go bold, go big and don’t look back.”

Rick Ducey

Rick Ducey is the managing director for BIA/Kelsey. He is an expert in digital media innovations, competitive strategies, new product development and new business models, including digital ecosystem collaboration strategies. Ducey oversees the firm's consulting, research and advisory services areas. He is also the program director for BIA/Kelsey's Video Local Media advisory service. This program provides coverage and analysis of how online, mobile and broadcast video technologies, competition, shifting consumer demographics and media usage trends are driving changes in the media ecosystem and SMBs and other advertisers can be successful in the new environment. Ducey assists clients with their business planning and revenue models, strategic research, market assessment, and designing and implementing digital strategies. He is also a cofounder of SpectraRep, one of BIA�s companies, which sells a patent-pending IP-based alerting system that he co-invented. Prior to joining BIA in 2000, Ducey was senior vice president of NAB's Research and Information Group. In this position, he was in charge of the association�s new technology assessment, audience and policy research, strategic planning and information systems, including all Internet operations, and he also developed publications and seminars. Before joining NAB in 1983, Ducey was a faculty member in the Department of Telecommunication at Michigan State University where he taught and did research in the areas of emerging telecommunication technologies and strategic market research. He also served on the graduate management faculties of George Mason University and George Washington University in telecommunications management and the University of Maryland, where he taught strategic market management and research methodologies. Ducey was selected as the Spring 2011 Shapiro Fellow at George Washington University where he teaches entrepreneurship in new media. He has published a number of research articles and papers in these areas and serves on editorial boards of leading scholarly journals in the communications field. He has also worked at radio stations WSOQ-AM/WEZG-FM and Upstate Cablevision in North Syracuse, New York. Ducey received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University, M.S. from Syracuse University and B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

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