
194. Resilience in Ad Tech: What Agency Life Teaches Every Programmatic Trader
From The Programmatic Digest by Helene Parker and Co-host: Manuela Cortes
March 18, 2026 · 34 min
About this episode
The episode discusses resilience in programmatic advertising and agency life through the insights of guest Assetou Kone.
Sign up to our FREE workshop on March 31st: Optimization with AI for Programmatic Traders Site Lists + Geo Insights (DMA) — from Pivot Tables to Prompts In this episode of Programmatic Digest, Hélène Parker sits down with Assetou Kone, programmatic expert and consultant, for a real conversation about resilience in programmatic advertising and agency life. Assetou shares her journey into ad tech, from studying political science and mass communication to discovering programmatic during a digital marketing bootcamp. What started as a curiosity about digital media quickly became a career built on solving complex marketing problems across multiple verticals, including political campaigns, retail, e-commerce, banking, and pharmaceutical brands. The conversation dives into the softer skills that often determine long-term success in programmatic, including active listening, observation, and understanding the internal structure of the organisations you work within. Assetou explains why knowing how a company operates and who influences decisions can dramatically improve how traders execute campaigns and support client goals. Hélène and Assetou also unpack the reality of agency work…
People in this episode
Hosts: Hélène Parker, Manuela Cortes
Guest: Assetou Kone
Topics covered
- resilience
- ad tech
- agency life
- programmatic advertising
- soft skills
Keywords
- programmatic traders
- digital marketing
- complex marketing problems
- active listening
- burnout
Mentioned in this episode
Products: Optimization with AI for Programmatic Traders Site Lists + Geo Insights (DMA)
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