The news: The Trade Desk (TTD) partnered with ad tech firm Dstillery to help advertisers more quickly execute mid-campaign adjustments.

Through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, TTD’s Ask Koa agents will connect with Dstillery’s DS-1 agentic platform to surface new audiences for advertisers based on their current campaign performance and targeting goals. Advertisers can then create custom segments in minutes instead of four days, per Dstillery chief product officer Taejin “TJ” In, and activate them within TTD’s platform, per Adweek.

Why this matters: Retargeting is an important step for filling in audience gaps once they become clear, but moving too slowly to identify optimal changes and implement them defeats the purpose of attempting to respond in real time. Agents are now being called in to expedite this process.

TTD and Dstillery are addressing the growing demand for using AI to optimize campaigns midflight. This year, 36% of global marketers plan to deploy AI for this purpose, up from the 21% who used it in 2024, per DoubleVerify.

With mid-campaign targeting getting easier, advertisers will be able to deviate from audience segments that were established before a campaign launched. TTD’s integration paves the way for retargeting to be a more dependable stage of campaign management, which could help advertisers get more out of their campaigns in general.

Zooming out: TTD may be focusing on agentic AI to help get the company through its current challenges. This week, TTD re-hired co-founder and former CTO Dave Pickles to develop a roadmap for technology products, which will largely hinge on agent-powered infrastructure.

The company’s AI overhaul hasn’t yet elevated the company amid growing pressure from walled gardens and industry scrutiny over how it works with partners.

Implications for advertisers: Mid-campaign retargeting holds potential as a lever for increasing campaign ROI. If TTD can prove consistent results, this would be a milestone moment for the ad industry’s adoption of agentic AI and a testament to the value of establishing and connecting MCP servers.

TTD’s integration, however, requires advertisers to trust that agents are sourcing the best information to build custom audiences from. Advertisers should verify its efficacy through internal analysis and A/B testing, which may impede speed but are worth the due diligence to ensure campaigns are meeting KPIs.

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