Hershey’s AI-Powered Media Mix Modeling: Why Owning Your Martech Beats Renting the Hype

Let’s get this straight: Hershey’s programmatic chief, Vinny Rinaldi, is calling out the agency and vendor circus by building their own AI-enabled media mix modeling (MMM) system. In an industry drowning in cookie-cutter solutions from bloated marketing stacks and half-baked AI promises, Hershey’s move to internalize this tech is a rare beacon of sanity. Rinaldi isn’t just playing the AI-for-marketing popularity contest — he’s insisting, “We should own it.” And no, this isn’t some feel-good corporate slogan; it’s a direct slap at the endless cycle of outsourcing, vendor lock-in, and the “black box” syndrome that has plagued media buying for years.

Here’s the brutal truth: Most brands still let agencies and third-party platforms dictate their media investments through outdated MMM models, often wrapped in smoke and mirrors. The laziness of relying on off-the-shelf solutions like those from Google’s self-serving ad tech ecosystem or the usual suspects (looking at you, vendor cartels) leads to suboptimal allocation and a lack of transparency. Hershey’s approach — developing an AI-enabled MMM system in-house — is a direct challenge to this status quo. It’s about cutting out the middlemen who profit from complexity and opacity.

Rinaldi’s frustration with the industry is palpable. The programmatic space is filled with “peak nothingburger” AI hype and shallow “10x agency” promises that never translate into meaningful results. Hershey’s system leverages AI agents not as magic bullets but as tools to crunch historical and real-time data, enabling precise, actionable media investment decisions. This isn’t a plug-and-play vendor solution; it’s a living, breathing piece of infrastructure owned and optimized by Hershey’s own team — a move that finally aligns incentives properly.

But here’s the kicker: Hershey’s isn’t stopping at MMM. Rinaldi hints at expanding this AI-driven autonomy to other media and marketing functions, signaling a potential death knell for agencies that rely on grift and guesswork. Brands that don’t start owning their AI and data infrastructure are setting themselves up as hostages to the very platforms and vendors that benefit from their ignorance. The industry’s obsession with “AI magic” plugins and turnkey solutions is a cargo cult — Hershey’s internal build is the cold, hard reality check.

If you’re a brand still outsourcing your MMM or programmatic strategy to the usual suspects, take note. The future belongs to those who own their tech stack, control their data, and build their AI tooling with ruthless rigor. Hershey’s isn’t just making candy anymore; they’re serving a reminder that in media buying, ownership beats renting every single time.