Buyer / brand track

AdCP buyer track (C1-C4): multi-agent buying orchestration, brand identity protocols, creative workflows, sponsored intelligence, and a buyer agent build project.

Buyer / brand track (C1–C4)

Members only — Requires Basics credential (A1–A3). Four modules, ~105 minutes total.

This track teaches you the demand side of AdCP. You’ll learn how buyer agents orchestrate across multiple sellers, how brand identity and compliance protocols work, and how creative workflows and Sponsored Intelligence fit together. The track culminates in a build project where you create a working buyer agent.

Completing this track (plus A1–A3) earns the AdCP practitioner credential.

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C1: Multi-agent buying and media planning

~20 min | Prerequisite: A3

How buyer agents orchestrate across multiple sales agents simultaneously: discovery, portfolio allocation, proposals, and measuring reach across publishers.

Reading list

Media buy overview

The media buy protocol: how agents discover, negotiate, and execute advertising campaigns.

get_products task

Product discovery from multiple sellers — the first step in any buying workflow.

create_media_buy task

Campaign creation: manual mode, proposal mode, validation, and approval lifecycle.

Orchestrator design

Architecture patterns for agents that coordinate across multiple sellers.

Pricing models

CPM, flat rate, performance-based — how pricing works across sellers.

Targeting

Targeting options, audience overlays, and geo-targeting.

Trusted Match Protocol

How your campaigns execute at impression time: context match, identity match, and cross-publisher frequency capping.

TMP Buyer Guide

Endpoint integration: responding to Context Match and Identity Match requests, structuring offers, provider registration.

get_media_buys task

Operational monitoring: lifecycle state, creative approvals, valid actions, delivery snapshots.

Key concepts

• Multi-agent buying — query multiple sellers in parallel, compare, allocate, execute
• Orchestration pattern — discover, evaluate, allocate, execute, monitor
• Order lifecycle — confirmed_at on creation, pause/resume, cancellation via update_media_buy, terminal states
• Valid actions — get_media_buys returns valid_actions so agents know what operations are permitted
• Audience targeting — sync_audiences for custom segments
• Impression-time execution — campaigns activate through TMP at serve time; frequency caps, audience eligibility, and brand suitability are enforced via Identity Match without exposing user data to buyers alongside content context
• Account setup — sync_accounts to establish billing before buying

Start C1 with Addie

“I’d like to start certification module C1.”

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C2: Brand identity, compliance, and safety

~20 min | Prerequisite: C1

The Brand Protocol (brand.json), content standards, and how brand agents enforce guidelines across automated buying.

Reading list

Brand protocol

Brand identity claims, brand.json discovery, brand hierarchy, and brand agents.

brand.json specification

The brand.json format: identity, logos, colors, guidelines, and agent declarations.

For advertisers

How advertisers license talent rights through the brand protocol — pricing, scopes, and what you get.

get_rights task

Search for licensable talent rights — pricing, availability, and exclusion filtering.

acquire_rights task

License talent rights: generation credentials, rights constraints, revocation, and approval workflows.

update_rights task

Extend, adjust, or pause an existing rights grant.

For rights holders

How rights holders monetize talent through the brand protocol.

Content standards

How content standards define what’s appropriate, how calibration works, and local execution.

calibrate_content task

Testing whether content meets brand standards before placement.

Policy compliance

How compliance is enforced during media buy execution.

Creative governance

Creative quality and compliance governance.

Campaign governance

Tie campaigns to media plans: budget authority, multi-party validation, and always-on compliance.

Policy registry

Community-maintained compliance policies (COPPA, GDPR, HFSS) that brands reference by ID.

Key concepts

• Brand identity protocol — brand.json at /.well-known/brand.json declares brand identity
• Content standards — automated compliance checking via MCP-based brand agents
• The Oracle model — using AI to evaluate brand safety at scale
• Supply chain preferences — suitability, safety, and sustainability requirements
• Campaign governance — campaign plans define authorized parameters; check_governance validates every transaction before execution
• Policy registry — shared compliance policies (regulations and standards) referenced by ID, not written per-brand
• Governance adoption — governance agents support incremental adoption (audit → advisory → enforce) as an internal configuration, not a protocol field
• Policy categories — regulatory regimes (children_directed, fair_housing, fair_lending) that plans declare and governance agents enforce
• Restricted attributes — personal data categories (health_data, racial_ethnic_origin) that must not be used for targeting under applicable policies

Start C2 with Addie

“I’d like to start certification module C2.”

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C3: Creative workflows

~20 min | Prerequisite: C2

How creative assets flow through AdCP: build_creative, preview_creative, sync_creatives. Cross-platform adaptation and the Sponsored Intelligence Protocol.

Reading list

Creative overview

The creative protocol: assets, formats, manifests, creative agents.

build_creative task

Creative generation and transformation.

preview_creative task

Previewing creatives before deployment.

sync_creatives task

Synchronizing creative assets with publisher platforms.

Generative creative

AI-generated creative workflows and best practices.

Sponsored Intelligence

Conversational brand experiences in AI assistants.

SI specification

The Sponsored Intelligence protocol: sessions, messages, and offerings.

Key concepts

• Creative lifecycle — build_creative, preview_creative, sync_creatives — callable on any agent implementing the Creative Protocol, including sales agents
• Cross-platform adaptation — agents adapt assets across display, video, audio, native formats
• Seller-side generation — sales agents can generate creatives at serve time from a brief provided in the media buy
• Sponsored Intelligence — brands participate in conversational AI with transparency and user control

Start C3 with Addie

“I’d like to start certification module C3.”

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C4: Build project — your first buyer agent

~45 min | Prerequisite: C3

Create a working buyer agent that discovers products and executes media buys. Use any AI coding assistant (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) with the adcp client library. The skill tested is orchestrating a buying workflow correctly.

What you’ll build

• Account setup with sync_accounts
• Product discovery from at least 2 sellers
• Media buy creation with targeting and budget
• Creative sync with at least 1 format
• Campaign monitoring via delivery reporting

Assessment rubric

Dimension	Weight	What Addie evaluates
Specification quality	20%	Can you specify a buying workflow in AdCP terms?
Schema compliance	25%	Agent requests and responses validate against schemas
Error handling	15%	Handles seller errors and async responses
Design rationale	20%	Can you explain orchestration and buying strategy?
Extension ability	20%	Can you extend the agent with new buying capabilities?

Passing threshold: 70%.

Any AI coding assistant is welcome. The build must demonstrate cross-role interaction.

Start C4 with Addie

“I’d like to start certification module C4.”

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What’s next

After completing C1–C4, you’ve earned the AdCP practitioner credential. From here you can pursue specialist modules:

• S1: Media buy — transaction flows, pricing, orchestration
• S2: Creative — asset workflows, format compliance
• S3: Signals — measurement, attribution, optimization
• S4: Governance — brand safety, campaign governance, compliance, policy registry
• S5: Sponsored Intelligence — conversational brand experiences