Starcom Launches Industry-First Media Booking Bot

Starcom, the intelligence driven media agency, part of Publicis Media, is the first UK agency to develop and implement an automated media booking bot.

Using intelligent automation called Robotic Process Automation (RPA), this first iteration of the bot is able to book and edit digital and print media campaigns on a daily basis. Built in-house, ABACUS (Automated Bot for Amendments to Campaigns and Uploads) uses a bespoke technology platform that processes and verifies vital campaign details overnight, to ensure scheduled media plans are correct and efficient.

The bot’s process includes verifying media plan data, uploading to campaign booking platforms, trafficking to ad-servers and communicating campaign information to media owners.

Starcom is the first agency within Publicis Media to trial this as part of a pilot initiative.

In testing, the bot improved booking speed and accuracy by up to 50%. The thousands of hours saved each year will allow Starcom’s buying teams more time to focus on higher value work such as developing breakthrough creative executions with media partners.

Nadine Young, chief executive at Starcom said: “Automation is a key part of our new intelligence-driven strategy, designed to leverage the best of human capability and pioneering technologies, such as this. ABACUS allows us to liberate our teams from the more repetitive administrative tasks and unleash further opportunity to focus on more strategic and creative growth opportunities for our clients. This is the future, and a brilliant example of automation being used to enhance, rather than dampen, creativity.”