"Audience Is the Outcome": A Coffee With Caroline Sajas, Locala

Why It Matters

Agentic AI reshapes local media planning, delivering faster, data‑driven outcomes while demanding new, technically skilled roles to ensure human control and accountability.

Key Takeaways

• Agentic AI transforms local media planning from hours to seconds.
• Audience should be outcome, not starting point, per Locala’s approach.
• New roles like prompt managers will replace traditional reporting jobs.
• Human oversight remains crucial; AI decisions need transparent questioning.
• AI-driven local insights boost national campaign efficiency and ROI.

Summary

The ExchangeWire Kitchen interview with Caroline Sajas, co‑founder of Locala, spotlights the company’s location‑intelligence platform and its embrace of agentic AI. Sajas explains how the technology automates audience planning, turning tasks that once took hours into seconds, and how it shifts the industry from generative AI that merely creates content to agentic AI that executes strategies across local markets. Key insights include the belief that audiences should be the outcome of data analysis rather than the starting point, the rapid generation of hyper‑local audience segments, and the emergence of new job categories such as prompt managers who steer AI agents. Sajas cites a client with 2,000 stores receiving weekly, AI‑generated reports and activations in minutes—a stark contrast to manual processes. She emphasizes that while AI accelerates decision‑making, human oversight remains essential. Transparency, the ability to question AI recommendations, and upskilling the workforce are critical to maintaining control. The conversation also references historical parallels, noting how past technological shifts—programmatic buying, the internet—initially sparked fear but ultimately created new roles and efficiencies. The broader implication is that advertisers and agencies must adapt to a data‑first, AI‑driven workflow to maximize ROI, while investing in talent capable of managing and interrogating AI outputs. Those who master this balance will gain a competitive edge in an increasingly localized, real‑time media landscape.

Original Description

In this episode of A Coffee With... Caroline Sajas, SVP of sales at Locala, joins ExchangeWire's head of content, John Still, over an americano to chat location intelligence and the agentic revolution.

Agentic AI marks a sea change in the media industry, shifting us from simple generative tasks to complex, autonomous operations. Success will depend on both powerful AI agents and skilled human managers who can prompt and challenge them.

Locala, a location intelligence platform, utilises planning agents to gather insights which allow clients to understand local landscapes and maximise outcomes. Transparent, quality data will be the most important differentiator, enabling brands to move from broad targeting to highly precise, localised strategies that meet consumer demands for personalised connection.

0:00 Introduction

3:26 What are the attitudes towards the agentic revolution?

5:52 What has been the sea change in AI?

7:35 Should audience be the outcome or a starting point?

9:29 How is agentic AI reshaping data workflows?

11:24 How does AI help with local targeting in the geospace?

13:17 How are humans still relevant in the agentic revolution?

17:13 With agentic AI, how will the world look in a few years time?

#adtech #media #locationintelligence #agenticai #coffeechat