With a reliance of programmatic ad buying, many media agencies have lost touch with the value of quality, depth and human connection and begun prioritizing impressions and automated tools. As a wake-up call to the industry, Epitaph Group has partnered with Rethink to launch a new campaign dubbed “Garbage Media.”

As part of the campaign, the agencies installed a mini DOOH billboard in an alley near Sankofa Square in Toronto (previously known as Yonge-Dundas Square) and successfully sold inserts to genuine media agencies for a variety of businesses in the QSR, tourism and CPG sectors.

“By selling real DOOH placements on programmatic exchanges, we wanted to spark conversation and challenge the industry to rethink what quality means,” says Mike Rumble, CEO of Epitaph Group.

Rumble tells strategy that while “Garbage Media” is a promotional stunt from Epitaph to reach marketers, “it’s also an important catalyst to a much-needed conversation about brands who deserve better from their media companies.”

Rumble says that the concept for the campaign arose out of a belief that media buying is “too automated,” and the industry is “too obsessed” with cheap impressions as it disconnects from strategic thinking. On average, brands spend $72 billion a year on media, but 41% of those resources are wasted because of poor oversight by media agencies, according to Epitaph.

For his part, Scott Stewart, EVP and managing director at Epitaph Group, tells strategy that the agency chose to focus on DOOH because that is where the biggest waste occurs, with advertising appearing in locations where no brand should be and with no strategy behind them. But media waste is a structural issue that goes beyond OOH, affecting many channels that rely on automated buying, he says, adding that as programmatic buying grows, the problem is projected to worsen.

“Tools that were meant to make things easier are making things worse,” Stewart says. “There are important conversations happening right now around equity building, short-termism, attention, mental availability and the impact of great creativity, but what does it matter if it all goes to waste with a garbage buy? It feels like the right time to do something about it and spark this important conversation.”