• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, January 30, 2015

Mondelez International, the CPG giant, is helping push the programmatic TV industry forward in a big way.

Mondelez brands Oreo and Ritz are set to run 15-second regional spots during the halftime of this year’s Super Bowl. The twist? The ads were purchased programmatically. Adweek first reported the story.

It’s a big step for programmatic TV; one of the only things bigger would be buying national spots for the Super Bowl. The ads will run on Erie, PA’s WICU-NBC.

“We’re proud to be the first company to test out automated ad buys during the Big Game,” stated Laura Henderson, associate director of U.S. media and communications at Mondelez International. “This pilot will help us learn how to transform media buying with leading-edge technology. Data-driven buying is the future of TV and media.”

Mondelez used ad tech platforms TubeMogul and WideOrbit to execute the buy.

Mondelez was in the driver’s seat for this “test” and “pilot” run, to use Henderson’s words, but its agency -- MediaVest -- was involved in the process. MediaVest sourced and uploaded the creative, which was generated by creative agencies (The Martin Agency for Oreo; Havas for Ritz).

This marks the first time Mondelez will have used programmatic TV, and while it's a big first step, it’s not the brand’s first time making noise at the big game -- at least within advertising circles. The “Oreo tweet” from Super Bowl XLVII in 2013 was talked about at ad conferences for months, and is still brought up occasionally.

Real-Time Daily is told that from start to finish, the opportunity to buy this particular programmatic TV ad “came up quickly,” and that it wasn’t because of any strategic philosophy that Mondelez led the charge.

Mondelez, Real-Time Daily is told, tends to be much more involved in the process of testing new technologies than other brands. If the pilot run is successful, it’s possible MediaVest will be more involved in future runs.

So while this can be seen as another step for “brands taking programatic in-house,” it’s not out of character for Mondelez to take the reigns on the programmatic front. When Mondelez struck a partnership with TubeMogul to be its programmatic video ad platform of choice, it was announced that MediaVest would remain involved. This Super Bowl ad appears to be in line with what Mondelez’s approach to programmatic has been all along.