Agency network Stagwell has expanded its partnership with programmatic advertising platform The Trade Desk, becoming the first agency network to adopt Koa Agents — The Trade Desk’s new agentic AI models for media planning, buying and optimisation.
Koa Agents allows media planners and buyers to describe their campaign goals conversationally, with AI agents then handling execution and real-time optimisation automatically. Stagwell says the technology will significantly reduce campaign setup time and streamline workflows, and plans to make it available to select clients in closed beta later this summer.
The move positions Stagwell as an agency network moving towards agentic AI in programmatic advertising — a clear signal of where it believes media buying is headed.
Going all in on AI
The Trade Desk deal is the latest in a series of major platform alliances for Stagwell. The agency has also teamed up with data software company Palantir on a marketing platform that lets clients manage and optimise campaigns using their own first-party data, with tools capable of sifting through tens of millions of records to identify and segment audiences.
“Advertising is becoming more complex — but how we interact with it should become simpler,” said Aravind Chandrasekharan, SVP of Engineering at The Trade Desk. “Koa Agents allow marketers to focus on outcomes while the system handles execution with precision and visibility. Our partnership with Stagwell reflects a shared commitment to open, interoperable technology that gives advertisers more control.”
