Observed Signal · Jul 16, 2026 · Hiring · Source: AdExchanger · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Georgia‑Pacific Builds In‑House Programmatic Team
Georgia‑Pacific spent nearly four years building an in‑house programmatic media operation to gain transparency and control over digital spend. Javier Bustillos, who runs national media and marketing analytics for Georgia‑Pacific brands, led a phased rollout that began with a single brand and channel as a test. The company consolidated programmatic spend with a small group of partners (using Yahoo as its primary DSP and supplementing with Google DV360, The Trade Desk and Amazon), requires log‑level data and contracts regular media audits. OMD remains media agency of record for holistic strategy and TV, while the in‑house team focuses on programmatic buying, search, social, MMM, A/B testing and sales‑lift analysis. CTV buying remains a work in progress, so a hybrid in‑house/agency model persists.
Provides a detailed, multi‑year case study of a major advertiser building in‑house programmatic capabilities, highlighting vendor selection, contractual transparency (log‑level data), MMM cadence and a hybrid agency model — useful examples for other marketers considering in‑housing.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Georgia‑Pacific built an in‑house programmatic media operation over nearly four years.
- Javier Bustillos runs national media and marketing analytics for Georgia‑Pacific brands.
- Georgia‑Pacific consolidated programmatic spend and uses Yahoo as its primary DSP for national buys, with Google’s DV360, The Trade Desk and Amazon in the mix.
- OMD has been Georgia‑Pacific’s media agency of record since 2020 and continues to lead holistic strategy and TV buying.
- Georgia‑Pacific requires log‑level data from partners and includes regular media audits in contracts; the in‑house team runs marketing mix modeling twice a year with plans to move to quarterly.
Connected Companies & Entities
6 Entities mapped“OMD, Georgia-Pacific's media agency of record since 2020, still leads holistic strategy and planning, Bustillos said, and handles the work w...”
“To make its dollars go further, Georgia-Pacific consolidated its programmatic media spend with a small group of partners. It uses Yahoo as i...”
“It uses Yahoo as its primary DSP for national buys, with Google's DV360, The Trade Desk and Amazon in the mix depending on the campaign.”
“It uses Yahoo as its primary DSP for national buys, with Google's DV360, The Trade Desk and Amazon in the mix depending on the campaign.”
“It uses Yahoo as its primary DSP for national buys, with Google's DV360, The Trade Desk and Amazon in the mix depending on the campaign.”
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Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
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Georgia‑Pacific shifts programmatic focus to supply side
Georgia‑Pacific reoriented its programmatic strategy toward supply-side curation, using a tool called SWYM to screen inventory upstream of auctions. After bringing programmatic buying largely in‑house in 2019, the company sought to reduce waste by blocking low-quality bid requests before bids are placed. The implementation — including a fraud layer built with Fou Analytics — reportedly delivered lower CPMs (17%–44% reductions), higher viewability (+11%) and higher video completion rates (+7%), and cut invalid traffic by about 8%. The work also allowed Georgia‑Pacific to sharply reduce the number of SSPs it works with and generated six-figure annual savings in the case study cited.
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