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Recently, more than 20 students from the College of Media, Communication and Information spent their weekend in a one-credit course on programmatic advertising, learning about the automation of buying and selling of ads that is revolutionizing the industry.

“The ad program at CU ��«����Ƶ is unique and nimble in that it gives students opportunities to get ahead of the curve and experiment with new technologies,” said Harsha Gangadharbatla, founding chair of the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design.

While this technology used to be considered experimental, it’s now becoming a staple in media trading. CU ��«����Ƶ is among the first universities to offer such a course, which was created in partnership with Cadreon—the Ad Tech unit of IPG Mediabrand.

“The way media is bought and sold has changed,” said Cadreon members who conducted the course. “As it continues to grow, more technologies play a unique role in the programmatic ecosystem.”

The idea for the course developed after alumna Heather Prince (Jour’04) visited campus last spring as a guest speaker and introduced advertising students to the basic concepts of programmatic advertising. The topic spurred so much interest that Gangadharbatla invited Prince—a founding member of Cadreon—to return with Pablito Padua, Tyler Guthrie and Justin Phalichanh from the company to teach students more on the topic.

“With so many acronyms, terminologies and nuances, it can be challenging to learn about this constantly changing space,” Cadreon’s team said. CMCI plans to hold similar courses in the future, so students can continue to stay on the cutting edge of advertising practices.