Inside SFIMA: Key Takeaways from StackAdapt’s Programmatic 101

On May 21, SFIMA gathered for an engaging evening of learning, networking, and industry insights at SFIMA’s latest speaker event, featuring Sabrina Restrepo, Account Executive, and Ryan Bender, Senior Account Executive, from StackAdapt.

From seasoned professionals looking to sharpen their expertise to marketers eager to better understand the evolving digital landscape, attendees walked away with practical knowledge and fresh perspectives on one of today’s most powerful and often misunderstood advertising channels: programmatic advertising.

Through real-world examples, interactive discussion, and actionable strategies, Sabrina and Ryan broke down the fundamentals of programmatic advertising and demonstrated how marketers can use it to build smarter, more connected campaigns. The session reflected exactly what SFIMA strives to provide through its programming: opportunities for our community to learn from industry leaders, exchange ideas, and stay ahead in an ever-changing marketing environment.

Here’s a look back at some of the key insights shared during the evening.

What Is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic advertising is the automated buying and optimization of digital advertising in real time. Rather than manually negotiating ad placements, marketers use technology and data to serve the right message to the right audience at the right moment.

By connecting tools such as CRMs, audience data, and analytics platforms, programmatic enables brands to reach consumers more efficiently and at scale.

A Brief History of Programmatic

To understand where we are, the speakers walked the audience through how we got here:

• 2001 — Advertisers and publishers establish direct relationships for digital ad buying.
• 2005 — The first ad exchanges launch, creating a marketplace for digital inventory.
• 2007 — Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) emerge, formalizing the buy and sell sides of the ecosystem.
• 2009 — Real-Time Bidding (RTB) is created, enabling millisecond-level auctions for each ad impression.
• 2011 — RTB goes mainstream, and Data Management Platforms (DMPs) rise to handle the flood of big data.
• 2015 — The first programmatic CTV campaigns launch, expanding beyond desktop and mobile.
• 2016 — Header bidding becomes mainstream, giving publishers more control and advertisers access to better inventory.
• Present — Programmatic now spans a vast, omnichannel ecosystem.

Today’s Digital Ecosystem: The Open Internet vs. Walled Gardens

One of the most clarifying moments in the presentation was the breakdown of today’s digital ecosystem. The speakers drew a clear distinction between two worlds:

Walled Gardens — platforms like Google, Meta, and Amazon that require advertisers to buy and manage campaigns exclusively within their proprietary systems. Challenger platforms like Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Pinterest fall into a similar category.

The Open Internet — a massive, decentralized ecosystem comprising over 1 million websites, 500,000 mobile apps, 100,000 CTV apps, and growing. This is where programmatic lives.

Programmatic doesn’t replace Walled Garden strategies — it complements them. It reaches users wherever they’re browsing, streaming, or listening outside of those closed platforms, in environments that include in-game advertising, audio, CTV, and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH).

How Programmatic Actually Works

The Programmatic Process

The speakers broke down the mechanics of programmatic in a clear flow:

1. An Advertiser wants to reach an audience.
2. They use a DSP (Demand-Side Platform) — like StackAdapt — to bid for media and optimize campaign performance.
3. The DSP participates in an Ad Exchange, where real-time auctions take place.
4. On the other side, a publisher’s SSP (Supply-Side Platform) lists available ad inventory and manages those auctions.
5. Data Providers inform both sides of the transaction with contextual signals, audience data, geo-targeting, CRM data, fraud detection, and viewability metrics — enabling smarter, more precise decisions.

Real-Time Bidding (RTB) in Plain English

The RTB process was further simplified into four steps:

1. A website has ad space available.
2. An SSP or exchange lists that space.
3. A DSP bids on it in real time — in milliseconds — on behalf of the advertiser.
4. The winning bid earns the impression, and the ad is served instantly.

Building a Multi-Channel Strategy

StackAdapt’s platform supports seven ad formats, all manageable in one place:

• CTV (Connected TV)
• Video
• Native
• Display
• Audio
• In-Game
• DOOH (Digital Out-of-Home)

The key message: you don’t have to choose just one. A true multi-channel strategy allows marketers to create full-funnel campaigns — from broad awareness down to conversion — with consistent messaging across every surface where consumers spend their time.

Where Programmatic Fits: The Full-Funnel Approach

Mapping Channels to the Funnel

The presenters laid out a compelling model for how different channels serve different stages of the buyer journey:

Awareness — Capture attention at scale and build broad brand recognition.

• Best formats: DOOH, CTV, Audio

Consideration — Engage users with relevant messaging that keeps your brand top of mind as they evaluate options.

• Best formats: Audio, Video, Display

Conversion — Drive action with personalized, intent-driven experiences that reinforce trust.

• Best formats: Display, Native

Reaching People Throughout the Day

The speakers also illustrated how programmatic maps to a consumer’s daily life — not just their browsing sessions:

Time	Moment	Channels
7:00 AM	Coffee and morning news	CTV, Display, Native
9:00 AM	Commute and on-the-go	DOOH, Audio
12:00 PM	Lunch break browsing	Display, Native
3:00 PM	Afternoon podcasts	Audio
5:00 PM	Post-work errands	DOOH
8:00 PM	End-of-day scroll and email	Email, Display, Native
10:00 PM	Streaming and relaxation	Video, CTV

This “day-in-the-life” framing powerfully illustrates how an omnichannel strategy keeps a brand present across every touchpoint — not just when someone is sitting at a desktop.

The Benefits of Programmatic

The session highlighted six core advantages of programmatic over traditional digital buying:

1. Precise Targeting — Reach the exact audiences that matter to your business.
2. Premium Inventory — Access high-quality placements across the open internet.
3. Reporting & Insights — Granular, real-time performance data at your fingertips.
4. Budget Control + Flexibility — Set spend parameters and adjust on the fly.
5. Improved Viewability — Better tools to ensure your ads are actually seen.
6. Variety of Ad Formats — One platform, many channels.

How to Extend Other Channels with Programmatic

One of the most practical takeaways from the evening was that programmatic doesn’t replace existing marketing efforts, it enhances them.

• Extend Social: Social Display Ads: Repurpose high-performing social content into display ads that can reach audiences across the open internet, extending the impact of creative that’s already working.

• Extend Out-of-Home: Geo Radius Targeting: Reinforce outdoor campaigns by using geo-targeting to reconnect with audiences on their mobile devices after they’ve visited specific locations.

• Extend Search: Page Context AI: Place ads alongside relevant content to reach consumers actively engaging with topics related to your brand, without relying solely on cookies.

• Extend First-Party Data: CRM Onboarding: Use existing customer data to re-engage current audiences, suppress acquisition efforts, or build lookalike audiences to find new prospects.

• Extend Email: Integrated Ad and Email Strategies: Combine email and programmatic to create a more connected customer journey, reinforcing engagement across multiple touchpoints.

These examples highlighted how programmatic can strengthen the channels marketers already use, helping create more integrated and effective campaigns.

How to Activate Programmatic: The Framework

While the technology behind programmatic may seem complex, the presenters emphasized that successful campaigns begin with strong marketing fundamentals.

1. Plan: Start by defining your campaign objectives, identifying your target audience, mapping the customer journey, and establishing the KPIs that matter most. Aligning creative and measurement strategies from the outset lays the foundation for success.
2. Execute: With a clear strategy in place, marketers can launch campaigns by selecting the right formats, audiences, and tracking methods to support their goals.
3. Analyze: Perhaps one of programmatic’s greatest strengths is the ability to learn and adapt in real time. Reviewing performance helps marketers determine whether objectives were met, uncover insights that can inform future decisions, and identify opportunities for optimization moving forward.

StackAdapt’s reporting suite gives marketers everything they need to answer these questions: transparent domain-level performance data, dynamic time-series graphs, delivery and inventory reports, audience insights, conversion tracking, and fully customizable, exportable reports.

The Future of Programmatic

The session closed with a look ahead. The biggest theme: programmatic is no longer a standalone channel — it’s becoming the connective tissue of the entire marketing stack.

The integration of programmatic with email marketing represents just one example of where the industry is heading. As automation, AI, and first-party data strategies mature, the lines between channels will continue to blur. The brands that win will be the ones who treat programmatic not as a checkbox, but as a unified strategy across the full customer journey.

Continuing the Conversation with SFIMA

One of the biggest takeaways from the evening was the value of community. In an ever-changing industry, staying ahead means learning from one another and building meaningful connections. 

As Sabrina Restrepo shared during the session, “We love that SFIMA brings these opportunities to the local marketing community.”

That sentiment reflects SFIMA’s mission: bringing South Florida marketers together to exchange ideas, gain practical insights, and grow professionally. Whether you’re looking to expand your network, learn from industry experts, or stay on top of emerging trends, SFIMA provides opportunities to do just that.

Thank you to everyone who joined us on May 21 and helped make the event a success. If you couldn’t attend, we hope to see you at a future SFIMA event. Explore upcoming SFIMA events to see what is next on the calendar and become a member for just $99 per year to stay connected to South Florida’s marketing community.  Learn more about becoming a sponsor to elevate your organization’s visibility and support future programming. However you choose to engage, SFIMA offers meaningful ways to grow your network, sharpen your expertise, and stay part of the momentum.

We look forward to seeing you at our next SFIMA event.