Agentic AI is continuing to reshape digital advertising by expanding beyond campaign planning and activation into real-time campaign optimization. Dstillery has partnered with Canvas Worldwide to introduce in-flight AI-powered campaign optimization, enabling media teams to identify opportunities and improve performance continuously while keeping human decision-making at the center of every campaign.
The collaboration represents another step toward integrating agentic AI throughout the media buying workflow, helping advertisers improve efficiency, reduce manual tasks, and optimize programmatic campaigns with greater speed and precision.
Dstillery has announced an agentic advertising partnership with Canvas Worldwide, the second-largest independent media agency in the United States. The collaboration introduces in-flight optimization capabilities through Dstillery's DS-1 platform, allowing AI to continuously monitor and optimize live programmatic advertising campaigns.
Previously, agentic AI primarily supported tasks such as deal discovery, audience discovery, and campaign activation. With this latest development, the technology now extends into one of the most resource-intensive areas of media buying—ongoing campaign optimization.
Rather than replacing media traders, DS-1 has been designed to enhance their decision-making by identifying optimization opportunities continuously instead of relying on scheduled reporting cycles.
The optimization capability was jointly developed by Dstillery's AI specialists and Canvas Worldwide's AI Applied Research & Technology team. Development was led by Developer Lead Britain Eriksen, whose experience helped ensure the platform aligns with real-world media buying workflows.
Working closely with Canvas traders, both organizations refined the solution to mirror how campaign performance is evaluated while reducing repetitive manual work. Traders remain responsible for every investment decision, with AI serving as a decision-support tool that surfaces optimization opportunities more efficiently.
“There is no shortage of conversations about how AI could transform our industry. At Canvas, we’ve been focused on moving beyond the conversation to thoughtfully apply agentic AI to real media investment workflows,” explains Sally Lee, SVP, Programmatic and Activation Technologies at Canvas Worldwide. "Our partnership with Dstillery reflects that philosophy — using AI where it creates measurable value and amplifies strategic work for clients, while keeping our experts at the center of every investment decision.”
Before the introduction of DS-1, campaign optimization largely depended on weekly or monthly performance reports. Media traders manually reviewed campaign data, identified issues, and implemented adjustments after valuable impressions and advertising budgets had already been affected.
DS-1 replaces this periodic process with continuous monitoring. The platform identifies high-performing campaign segments, applies learnings to underperforming areas, and recommends optimization strategies designed to improve campaign outcomes.
Media buyers maintain complete control over campaign execution by choosing whether to accept, reject, or modify every recommendation generated by the AI platform.
For Canvas Worldwide, in-flight optimization marks another milestone in its broader strategy of embedding agentic AI throughout the entire media investment lifecycle. The agency aims to integrate AI into planning, activation, and optimization while ensuring human expertise remains central to every advertising decision.
"Campaign optimization is one of the most manual parts of a media buyer's job, especially when you're managing multiple campaigns across multiple brands," said Mark Jung, Head of AI Products at Dstillery. "DS-1 gives traders that time back, and more importantly, it helps them make better decisions, faster to drive outcomes for the brands they serve."
As agentic AI capabilities continue to evolve, partnerships like this demonstrate how AI can improve operational efficiency without replacing experienced professionals. By combining continuous optimization with human oversight, Dstillery and Canvas Worldwide aim to help advertisers maximize campaign performance while reducing repetitive manual processes across programmatic media buying.
Dstillery is the leading predictive AI audience targeting company, helping marketers reach exactly the right audience for every digital campaign. Powered by multimodal AI and its agentic platform, DS-1, Dstillery enables precise audience targeting at scale, simplifying workflows and driving superior campaign outcomes.
Dstillery’s predictive models learn across data modalities – including web journeys, CTV signals, search signals, purchase intent signals, and more – to build a robust understanding of a brand’s best customers and activate high-performing audiences across programmatic and social channels.
For more than a decade, Dstillery has set the standard for AI-driven audience solutions, backed by award-winning data science and a growing portfolio of 25 patents. To learn more, visit www.dstillery.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
Named one of Ad Age’s 2026 Top 10 Best Places to Work, Canvas Worldwide is an independent media agency that provides innovative marketing solutions for brands looking to challenge conventional thinking and make their own bold strokes. Launched in 2015, the agency is dual headquartered in Los Angeles and New York, with regional offices in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and Atlanta. Canvas Worldwide services world-class clients such as Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, MGM Amazon Studios, Edward Jones, McDonald’s, Zillow, CA Lottery and Five Guys. The agency has been named an Adweek Breakthrough Agency of the Year as well as “Media Agency of the Year” by Campaign US. The company’s culture is built around the idea that in order to achieve anything great, one must always “Challenge the Comfortable.” To learn more, visit: www.canvasworldwide.com.
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