At DMEXCO, the focus was on AI agents designed to take on tasks in day-to-day advertising. Demonstrations showed connections to advertising and CRM systems, as well as standards that could structure communication between agents.
AI agents were at the center of DMEXCO. Rather than mainly demonstrating simple tasks such as writing ad copy, exhibitors presented systems designed to plan campaigns, buy media, or contact customers. The demonstrations show possible workflows—they do not prove that the functions shown are generally available.
For an AI agent to perform tasks in external systems, it needs access to data and tools. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) was frequently discussed at the trade fair for this purpose. It enables AI assistants to interact with external systems. MCP governs the connection to a system, but not how buying and selling agents negotiate with one another.
Adform demonstrated how ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot can use MCP to control more than 800 functions of the Flow booking platform. This was a trade fair demonstration and does not prove that this functionality is generally available to all users.
Industry standards for communication
The industry is developing its own standards for communication between agents and people. The Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) builds on MCP and the A2A protocol for communication between agents. Before the trade fair, IAB Tech Lab presented version 3.0 of the Agentic Advertising Management Protocols (AAMP). It is intended to make the process from request for proposals to offer machine-readable.
HubSpot also demonstrated a specific CRM application: before a customer meeting, the Breeze assistant compiles the account history and suggests a conversation guide. Here, too, the trade fair demonstration describes what was shown—not the general availability of the feature.
What this means for you in practice
The examples make clear which steps agents are intended to take on: gathering information, planning campaigns, and managing media bookings. MCP can enable connections to platforms; standards such as AdCP and AAMP are intended to structure workflows between the parties involved. Whether such processes work together in day-to-day use also depends on the interfaces and how well the systems communicate with one another. However, the examples shown do not prove that these functions can already be used everywhere.
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