Advertisers Can Buy Product Placement Ads Through The Trade Desk

Adtech firm The Trade Desk is bringing AI-powered product placements to its ad platform.

The company has partnered with Rembrand, a startup that uses generative AI to insert branded products into publishers’ and creators’ video content post-production. The integration brings Rembrand’s technology into Kokai, The Trade Desk’s programmatic buying platform, with the goal of allowing advertisers to run product placements across the open internet.

The announcement comes as The Trade Desk faces growing competition in the DSP space. In recent months, advertisers have shifted ad spend to Amazon’s ad platform, citing better pricing and inventory access. Rival Viant also took a public jab at The Trade Desk with a billboard campaign in Cannes promoting its own AI-powered alternative.

With the creative integration from Rembrand across video, audio and social ads, The Trade Desk is trying to reassert its innovation edge.

“Brands understand the need to be faster, smarter, and more innovative to better connect with their consumers,” Samantha Jacobson, chief strategy officer at The Trade Desk, said in a statement. “And The Trade Desk is collaborating with companies that are at the forefront of advertising innovation, particularly as we embed generative AI into every aspect of programmatic.”

Programmatic product placements

Product placements typically take brands a long time to put together because they require custom messaging that has to be integrated into the content. Rembrand is one of a handful of startups hoping to speed up that process.

Rembrand’s platform analyzes video content frame by frame to identify natural spaces where ads can be inserted—like signage, packaging or objects within a scene. Those integrations can then be activated as programmatic ads through The Trade Desk’s demand-side platform that buys digital ads. Rembrand is also expanding its formats to include connected TV and film, with The Trade Desk as its first media-buying partner.

“Our partnership with The Trade Desk goes beyond technology,” said Omar Tawakol, CEO of Rembrand. “It’s about placing brands within content that carries the trust audiences have towards their favorite influencers. That tight contextually relevant integration increases watch time so that the brand can convey their story and deliver programmatic ads that perform.”

In addition to Rembrand, The Trade Desk added three other AI-focused partners to its platform: Nova, Spaceback and Bunny Studio. These tools help advertisers quickly build native ads, turn social posts into digital campaigns, and produce voiceovers in multiple languages.