Allocation, Not Day Trading
RTB treats advertising like day trading: “What is this impression worth?” It works for fungible inventory but commoditizes everything. AdCP enables portfolio-level allocation: “How should I invest my ad budget?” This mirrors how advertisers actually think—they buy outcomes, not impressions.Agentic Advertising is for Allocation
Why the RTB mental model doesn’t fit how advertisers actually make decisions.
The Fragmentation Problem
Today, advertisers face three completely different buying systems:| Paradigm | Era | How It Works |
|---|---|---|
| RTB/Biddable | Legacy web | Real-time bidding via OpenRTB |
| API-based | Modern social, AI | Platform-specific APIs (Meta, TikTok) |
| Direct IO | Legacy | Insertion orders, manual deals |
Omnichannel By Design
Buying billboards is fundamentally different from buying social links:- Different pricing: Flat rate vs CPM vs engagement-based
- Different creatives: Static images vs dynamic video vs conversational AI
- Different measurement: Impressions vs engagement vs footfall
Why Agents?
Intelligent agents reduce the cost of managing complex, negotiated deals:- Adapt to nuances without over-specifying everything in code
- Handle variability across platforms and channels
- Natural language lets buyers describe intent, not configure parameters
- Scale relationships from 3-5 platforms to 20+ without scaling teams
The Protocol Layer for AI
AdCP isn’t just unifying legacy systems—it’s the protocol layer for emerging AI surfaces.Sponsored Intelligence
Like VAST defined video ad serving, SI defines conversational brand experiences in AI assistants. When an AI says “Delta has flights to Boston—want me to connect you with their assistant?”—SI defines what happens next.Sponsored Intelligence and the Trillion Dollar Sentence
How conversational AI changes the economics of advertising.
Brand Manifests
Standardized brand identity for AI-powered creative generation. Brands express who they are—colors, tone, assets—in formats AI systems can consume.Promoted Offerings
The unified schema connecting brand identity, products, creative assets, and conversational AI. This bridges traditional advertising and conversational commerce. Together, these support fully AI-powered systems like Performance Max that need structured brand inputs, not manual campaign configuration.Sponsored Intelligence Protocol
Conversational brand experiences in AI assistants.
Brand Manifests
Standardized brand identity for AI creative generation.
Design Implications
These goals drive AdCP’s technical design:- Asynchronous: Deals take time. This is not a real-time protocol—operations may take minutes to days.
- Human-in-the-loop: Some decisions need human approval. Publishers can require manual sign-off.
- Multiple transports: MCP and A2A provide the same tasks through different protocols.
The Protocol Family
| Protocol | Purpose | Key Tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Media Buy | Campaign execution | get_products, create_media_buy |
| Signals | Audience targeting | get_signals, activate_signal |
| Creative | Ad creative management | build_creative, sync_creatives |
| Governance | Brand suitability, quality, compliance | Property lists, content standards |
| Sponsored Intelligence | Conversational brand experiences | si_initiate_session |
| Curation | Inventory packaging | Coming soon |