Observed Signal · Aug 19, 2026 · Industry Analysis · Source: Digiday · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Georgia‑Pacific Says No to Buying Agents — For Now
Georgia‑Pacific is delaying adoption of AI 'buying agents' for programmatic ad buying until underlying quality and waste issues in the ecosystem are resolved. Paras Shah, the company's senior director of digital media, says automating current inefficient workflows would only accelerate waste. The article describes a split in the industry between holdcos and ad tech vendors pushing agentic buying and brand-side marketers who are cautious. Executives from Converge and Adlook warn agentic buying won’t solve structural incentive and inventory-quality problems, and that adoption will be staggered rather than universal.
A major advertiser (Georgia‑Pacific) publicly delaying agentic/AI-based programmatic buying highlights practical barriers (inventory quality, incentives) that will shape the pace and form of agent adoption across the ad tech ecosystem.
Track Converge Signals & Market Shifts in Real-Time
Polaris7 autonomous intelligence agents track regulatory filings, primary sources, executive changes, and deal flow 24/7. Create your Polaris7 workspace to monitor these entities.
Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Georgia‑Pacific has decided not to adopt AI 'buying agents' for programmatic ad buying immediately, citing systemic waste and inventory-quality problems.
- Paras Shah, senior director of digital media at Georgia‑Pacific, says the company has spent the past two years cutting supply‑side platforms, scoring inventory before bids, and tightening control over supply as groundwork.
- The industry has split into two camps: holdcos and some ad tech vendors testing agentic/agent-to-agent buying, and cautious brand-side marketers wary of automation.
- Ian Maxwell (CEO, Converge) and Mateusz Jędrocha (Chief Product Officer, Adlook) warned that agentic buying will not fix poor incentives, inefficient workflows, or low-quality data; it may automate mistakes faster.
Connected Companies & Entities
5 Entities mapped“I think there is a tendency to confuse automation with intelligence. Agentic buying will not magically improve media performance if it is si...”
“The truth is the industry is thinking about integrating agents wrong, said Mateusz Jedrocha, chief product officer at Adlook.”
“Usually, it is from the holdcos like WPP and Omnicom and ad tech vendors.”
“Usually, it is from the holdcos like WPP and Omnicom and ad tech vendors.”
“Article published on Digiday by Seb Joseph on August 19, 2026.”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
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.
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.
Pros and Cons of Agentic Media Buying
This Digiday analysis (May 11, 2026) examines the debate around agentic media buying — AI-driven, agent-to-agent approaches that autonomously negotiate media buys. Proponents (including some agencies and publisher technologists) argue agents can cut ad‑tech intermediaries, push more budget to publishers, optimize performance at machine speed, and accelerate a flight-to-quality toward premium, first‑party inventory. Critics, including voices at The Trade Desk and publisher and agency leaders, warn agentic trading could add new layers of opacity, replicate ad‑network fragmentation, harm the open exchange, and be misused to prioritize outcomes without human oversight. The practice remains nascent with very little money transacted; several holding companies and agencies (Omnicom, Stagwell, Butler/Till) are testing agentic workflows while industry observers stress governance, transparency and broader platform-driven traffic declines mean agents are unlikely to be a standalone fix for publisher monetization.
Receive all future signals for Converge & competitors in your briefing
Never miss material M&A deals, leadership changes, account wins, or product rollouts. Polaris7 monitors 20,000+ primary sources 24/7, delivering verified telemetry directly into your executive briefing.