Media agency Brainlabs used custom algorithms to optimize for an additional conversion points along the customer journey for a travel client and found a 120% increase in flight bookings, ADWEEK previously reported.

But custom algorithms can’t fix all the problems of programmatic buying, like how easy it can be to buy low-quality media on made-for-advertising sites, which are environments filled with low-quality content to lure readers in and buffet them with ads. Rinaldi said Hershey’s also employs strategies to ensure it’s only using custom algorithms to bid across premium inventory.

“We’ve got an incredibly tight site list and supply path strategy. We’re pretty much 100% MFA-free on The Trade Desk,” Rinaldi said. “Our site list makes sure all of those things are still applied regardless of changing the way that we buy inventory.”

Custom algorithms can help give marketers control over machines, and not the reverse, said Tylynn Pettrey, vp of data science at Chalice.

“It’s AI-driven by the marketers,” she said.