StackAdapt, Basis and Adform: choosing and running one

Choosing between StackAdapt, Basis and Adform is a supply and workflow decision, and it usually takes an afternoon rather than a bake-off. Basis, formerly Centro, reconciles direct insertion orders and biddable media in one billing pipe, which is why an advertiser running dozens of local markets with a mix of both picks it and stays. StackAdapt's argument is native and contextual delivery against content, with a build a two-person team can actually operate without a trading desk behind it. Adform runs its own ad server and its ID Fusion stitching, and reaches European supply at a better rate than the American platforms manage. None of the three replaces a first seat, and we will not present one as though it does. What the decision actually turns on: How much of your media is bought direct and has to land on the same invoice as the biddable spend. Whether your audience is defined by the content it reads or by an identifier you hold. Whether your legal position on European traffic requires a first-party stitch rather than a third-party graph. And who operates the seat on a Tuesday afternoon three months after we have gone. That last question decides more of these than the feature list does, and it is the one nobody asks in the demo. How we build it: One taxonomy across every seat you run, so a campaign name means the same thing in two platforms. One shared exclusion list, maintained in one place and pushed to both. One measurement layer, in your warehouse, that both seats report into. A second seat that develops its own version of the truth will eventually be used to win an internal argument, and the argument will be about the discrepancy rather than the media. Operation, then handover: We run the first flights ourselves, then teach. The end state we prefer is your team operating the seat with us reviewing monthly, because these platforms were built for in-house operation and paying an agency to press buttons in a self-serve interface is a poor use of your budget. If you want the seat run permanently by us, say so and we will quote it, but we will suggest the other arrangement first. Japan: If your brief is Japan, this is the wrong listing. None of these three holds domestic supply that justifies the seat; Japanese display sits with the local SSPs and is bought through deals on a major platform or negotiated direct. We will say that on the first call and lose the sale rather than build you a seat that reaches nobody you want. Not included: Ad server migration into Adform's server, which is a separate project with its own risk and its own price. Creative production. Finance system integration in Basis beyond mapping the fields. Search and social. We do not hold the platform contract; seats stay in your name, and our fee never touches the media rate. Not for you if: You want the platform chosen on fee percentage alone, which is the one input that will not determine whether the campaign works. You want all three run in parallel for a quarter to compare, which produces three underfunded accounts and a tie. You need a seat we hold for you. Or your media plan is entirely biddable and entirely one market, in which case a second seat is overhead with a login page and you are better served by tightening the seat you already have.