Michael Olson

Don Draper would be overwhelmed by the sophistication of digital advertising. But he’d laugh at how unsophisticated financial reconciliation remains.

Optimization has been the golden promise of AI in advertising. From audience targeting and bid management to media buying and creative optimization, the industry’s first wave of AI investment has focused on helping campaigns perform better.

Agency leaders cite inefficient processes as the biggest challenge currently facing their organizations, ahead of all other pain points, according to a recent survey. Clunky planning workflows, scattered data sources, bloated tech stacks and siloed platforms are just a few of the symptoms.