Building a Proprietary Media Buying System

How I designed and built a proprietary media buying system from the ground up, turning a fragmented mess into a high-performing engine of growth.

Building a Media Buying Machine

The Challenge
The company's paid media efforts were a fragmented, inefficient mess. Budgets were being spent across a variety of channels with no central strategy, no single source of truth for performance, and a whole lot of manual work. The challenge was to bring order to this digital chaos and create a high-performing system from a blank slate.

My Role
As the sole architect and head engineer, I was responsible for building, operating, and maintaining our very own media buying machine. I also served as a financial shepherd for ten hospitals, and I led a team of 35 digital professionals, molding them into experts while managing vendor relationships with the tenacity of a junkyard dog. I'm proud to have been the single point of success, responsible for navigating the data, building the technology, and making sure the entire operation didn't spontaneously combust.

The Solution
I designed and built a proprietary media bidder from the ground up, a system that consolidated all our digital media efforts. This involved an extensive audit of all existing channels, a deep dive into data analytics, and the creation of a clear, cohesive strategy. I implemented new processes, a new reporting framework, and a training program that empowered the team to master the new system.

The Results
The project was a profound success. We achieved a significant increase in ROI by squeezing every last drop of value from our budgets. The new system also decreased campaign under-delivery to less than 2% of all campaigns. Ultimately, the project was a testament to what's possible when you're given a blank slate and the freedom to build a high-performing system from the ground up.