Welcome to the era of integration fatigue. Media buyers, planners, and traders know it well: the daily juggle of multiple dashboards, analytics tools, DSPs, and reporting platforms. It is not uncommon for agencies to wrangle half a dozen or more tools just to get a single campaign out the door. Some mid-market teams report using up to ten tools. This fragmented Frankenstack of mismatched ad tech is more than unwieldy; it is counterproductive. As one industry analyst quipped, a Frankenstack is “a haphazard collection of mismatched software tools and platforms stitched together,” breeding chaos, data silos, extra costs, and countless headaches. In fact, up to 60 percent of digital ad budgets get wasted due to misaligned, inefficient, and fragmented systems.
The frustration is palpable across the industry. Infrastructure owners at agencies and retail media networks spend precious hours and real dollars stitching systems together, while brand-side growth leaders push for a single, consistent view of performance that ties spend to sales. In short, fragmentation drags us down: execution slows, errors multiply, and everyone from the trader to the CMO feels the pain. The bottom line is that the status quo is not working.
From Frankenstack to Flexible: The Case for Composable Ad Tech
So how do we slay the monster of complexity? Choose a composable platform. Composable architecture means building your marketing and advertising stack with modular, interoperable components instead of being locked into a monolith. Think of it like ordering off the menu à la carte versus a prix fixe meal. You only get the pieces of a meal you want, not a chef’s strange creation you can’t even pronounce.
This modular approach has huge upsides. First, it preserves flexibility as needs change. You can mix and match tools, swap out components when something better comes along, scale up parts of the stack that need more muscle, and avoid the vendor lock-in that comes with all-in-one bundles. Picture the negotiation everyone dreads. A vendor refuses to unbundle. Half the features go unused, yet the one module you rely on keeps you locked in. That is budget that should fund real needs, not shelfware. Why settle for a rigid stack that can’t evolve? Composability lets teams select best-of-breed for every function instead of staying stuck in one ecosystem. In practice, you stay agile and future-proof without ripping out an entire platform when a single component ages out.
Secondly, composable platforms foster true interoperability. Open APIs and standardized data flows enable modules to communicate with one another. Instead of forcing square pegs into round holes, a well-designed modular stack shares data and events seamlessly. We built ours so clients can plug in preferred components. Core capabilities sit as discrete building blocks with clear interfaces so that you can bring your identity graph, audience source, activation tool, creative engine, measurement partner, or customer data platform and run them in one flow—swap pieces as needs change without breaking the system. The payoff is simpler cross-channel execution, fewer handoffs, and far less time lost to logins and CSVs.
“You are not stuck in a rigid system. You can mix and match. That is what composability means.” – Simon Asselin, CTO of Infillion
Finally, composability refocuses us on outcomes over outputs. Legacy platforms often keep marketers at arm’s length from their own data and prioritize vanity metrics over business results. In a modular setup, you are free to plug in tools that measure what matters at every step, from sales and revenue to incrementality. You are not handcuffed to black-box reporting. Need a more granular attribution model or a custom KPI dashboard? In a modular world, you can integrate it.
In effect, advertisers can create their own media machine exactly the way they want it to work. You maintain control and choice, and everything works together in a unified way.
Less Overhead, More Omnichannel Mojo
A well-implemented composable platform delivers real operational relief. For agencies drowning in manual processes and “tool overload,” cutting down the number of systems reduces busywork. There’s a real reduction in operational overhead. Teams no longer need to log the same campaign in three interfaces or export and reconcile siloed reports by hand. In practice, this means automating tedious tasks and letting technology handle the heavy lifting. For example, a Forrester Total Economic Impact report on Adobe Marketo found a 25% increase in marketing team productivity after automating recurring tasks.
Crucially, a composable platform streamlines cross-channel execution. With data and execution unified, marketers can act on a holistic view of the customer journey. Imagine triggering a follow-up CTV ad as soon as a user engages with your app, or pausing search when out-of-home is already saturating awareness, all from a single system. When systems share one set of IDs and events, retargeting, suppression, and pacing stay in sync, and cross-channel stops tripping over itself.
Equally important, composability helps future-proof your marketing operations. The landscape changes fast. New platforms emerge, privacy rules shift, cookies crumble. If you’re stuck in a monolithic suite that doesn’t adapt, you’re stuck, period. But if your platform is built from interchangeable parts, you have options. Need to swap out your attribution service for a cookieless model? Do it. Want to bolt on a new AI optimization tool next year? Plug it in through open APIs.
Better Results, No Lock-In: The Future Is Composable
Nearly 40 percent of organizations say integrations are the most important factor when selecting software. That applies to marketing tech, too. Ad tech does not have to be a tangle of tools and a tower of Babel. We can simplify without sacrificing sophistication. We can consolidate without conceding capability.
So let’s call it. Composable platforms are not a buzzword or a passing fad. They are the future. They align the ecosystem with the goal that media buyers, planners, traders, and marketers all share: drive outcomes, not just outputs, and do it efficiently.
For media practitioners feeling integration fatigue, a composable platform turns chaos into one cohesive system. For agency and RMN tech leaders, it ends endless integration firefights. For brand marketers craving openness, it means you can peek under the hood, hold partners accountable, and plug in your own tools and data.
Assemble the best-of-breed and make it work together. You get superior cross-channel performance, faster ramp-up and optimization, and provable outcomes, while you stay in the driver’s seat.
Ready to escape the Frankenstack and step into the future? Explore Infillion’s open, modular stack to see how the four pillars plug into your business and elevate results, or book a demo for a hands-on look at how composability solves ad tech complexity. The future of advertising is being built now. Embrace the freedom of composable platforms and watch integration fatigue fade away.
Infillion’s Modular Manifesto: Open APIs, Four Pillars, One Outcome
This is the philosophy we embrace at Infillion. The days of the black-box walled garden are numbered, and a new era of open, modular architecture is rising. Infillion’s platform is composable and interoperable by design. We intentionally broke the all-in-one mold in favor of an open-API ecosystem where each component can stand alone or work together as a unified whole.
What does that mean in practice? Infillion’s capabilities span four key pillars: demand, supply, creative, and data, spanning more than 190 modular components that power it all. Each one performs on its own, but together they give you the control, transparency, and flexibility to drive performance your way.
Each pillar is delivered as an interoperable component, so you can enrich your own DSP with our data, run Infillion MediaMath alongside your in-house stack, or integrate preferred third-party solutions. We have even plugged Experian’s identity graph into our platform to extend audience reach, a proof point of our ID-agnostic approach. The principle is simple: openness and interoperability at every layer.
Most importantly, this composability serves one thing: outcomes. Infillion doesn’t believe in tech for tech’s sake. We believe in outcome-driven activation. That is why full-funnel measurement is part of one of our core pillars, from Infillion’s own measurement suite to the third-party vendors that clients prefer. Build measurement into the stack, and the success metrics brands care about stay front and center. When you activate through the four pillars, you activate with accountability.
Infillion’s approach is unapologetically opinionated: we believe you should be able to have your cake and eat it too in ad tech. You should use best-of-breed components tailored to your needs and have them work in concert. You should demand transparency into your campaigns and the flexibility to adjust on the fly. You should avoid vendor lock-in. It is your strategy, your data, your customers. As Simon Asselin notes, the platform lets you mix and match without settling for the limitations of the old all-in-one approach. The shift away from the bloated black-box suite is not a prediction here; it is our present reality.
Learn More About Composability
If you’re ready to move past the limits of stitched-together stacks and toward a setup that’s open, modular, and built for the way modern media actually works, composability offers the most straightforward path forward. It gives teams room to evolve, integrates with the tools you already trust, and unlocks performance that rigid platforms simply can’t match.
To see how this shift comes to life—and how leading teams are using composable architecture to cut complexity and drive measurable outcomes—download our Composability Whitepaper. It breaks down the framework, the use cases, and the ROI behind this new approach so you can chart your own path with confidence.
Composable Ad Tech FAQs
What does “composable” mean in ad tech?
A modular stack where core capabilities connect through open interfaces. You assemble only what you need and can swap pieces without a rebuild.
Isn’t it easier to just buy a single “all-in-one” suite?
It may sound easier at first, but bundled suites often lock you into features you don’t need and make it hard to adapt quickly when the landscape shifts. Composability preserves flexibility and future-proofs your stack.
Does composability mean more vendors (and costs) to manage?
Not necessarily. It means you have the freedom to choose the right vendors for the right jobs. You pay for what you use, cutting overlapping licenses and manual ops. Many clients simplify their vendor list by consolidating into fewer but better-integrated tools.
How does composability reduce operational overhead?
By cutting out redundant logins, manual reconciliations, and duplicate campaign entries. Teams save hours each week and reduce errors by running campaigns and data flows in one interoperable system.
Can composable platforms support omnichannel campaigns?
Yes—that’s one of the biggest advantages. With a shared data spine and open APIs, you can sync IDs and events across CTV, display, mobile, retail media, OOH, and more, keeping cross-channel orchestration smooth.
How is Infillion’s approach different?
Open by default, ID-agnostic, and measured on outcomes. The four pillars—Demand, Supply, Creative, and Data—are delivered as discrete building blocks. You can plug in your preferred third-party tools or use ours, without breaking the system.
