Published: 17 September 2026

TL;DR: Two standards define what compliant agentic advertising infrastructure looks like. AdCP (Agent Communication Protocol), published by AgenticAdvertising.org, covers agent-to-agent negotiation. AAMP (Agentic Advertising Marketplace Protocol), published by IAB Tech Lab, covers marketplace governance. Alkimi is built to comply with both. This piece explains what each standard requires and how Alkimi implements each requirement in practice.

What Is AAMP and What Does It Require?

The Agentic Advertising Marketplace Protocol (AAMP) is the IAB Tech Lab governance standard for agentic advertising marketplaces. It specifies what a compliant marketplace must provide to buyers and sellers who operate with AI agents.

AAMP compliance requires four things from a marketplace.

Neutrality. The marketplace must not have a financial stake in the outcome of deal negotiations. Fee structures must not create incentives for higher deal prices.

Deal record integrity. The marketplace must produce a deal record that both parties hold independently, written before any impression is served. That record must be retrievable post-campaign without depending on the marketplace or the counterparty.

Mandate disclosure. The marketplace must verify, before negotiation begins, that each agent is operating under a human-approved mandate. Agents without a verified mandate must not be permitted to negotiate.

Audit access. Both parties must be able to retrieve their deal record independently, at any time post-campaign, to verify delivery against agreed terms.

A buyer evaluating an agentic marketplace can use these four requirements as a practical checklist. AAMP compliance is a structural commitment, not a marketing claim. The requirements either exist in the architecture or they do not.

What Is AdCP and What Does It Require?

AdCP (Agent Communication Protocol) is the open standard published by AgenticAdvertising.org that defines how agents communicate to reach a bilateral advertising deal. It plays the same role in agent-to-agent advertising that OpenRTB played in auction-based programmatic buying: it is the common language that allows any compliant buyer agent to talk to any compliant sell-side agent, regardless of which vendor built them.

AdCP specifies four things.

Identity. Agents must present verified identity before any negotiation step. Counterparties can confirm who an agent represents before agreeing to any terms.

Proposal format. AdCP defines the structure of deal proposals and counter-proposals, so that agents from different vendors can exchange terms without bespoke integration.

Negotiation sequence. The protocol defines how a negotiation proceeds from opening proposal to agreed deal, including how agents signal acceptance, rejection, or a counter-proposal.

Deal record. AdCP specifies the structure of the record that both parties retain at the conclusion of a successful negotiation.

How Alkimi Implements Each AAMP Requirement

Neutrality. Alkimi charges a fixed fee per deal. It does not earn a percentage of transaction value. It holds no inventory. These structural choices mean Alkimi has no financial interest in whether agreed prices are higher or lower. That is the condition AAMP requires.

Deal record integrity. At the conclusion of every negotiation, Alkimi produces a DealSheet that both the buy-side and the sell-side hold independently. The DealSheet is written at negotiation time, before any impression is served. Neither party depends on the other, or on Alkimi, to access their own copy. The record is not held centrally and released on request; each party has their own copy from the point of negotiation.

Mandate disclosure. Alkimi verifies at entry that each agent is operating under a human-approved mandate before any negotiation begins. Agents that cannot demonstrate a verified mandate are not permitted to proceed on the platform. This verification is an entry condition, not a periodic check.

Audit access. Both the buyer and the publisher can retrieve their DealSheet independently post-campaign. Audit rights are built into the structure of the platform. They do not depend on a request to the marketplace or cooperation from the counterparty.

How Alkimi Implements AdCP

Alkimi operates as the venue layer in AdCP-compliant negotiations. It handles identity verification, deal record storage, and neutral hosting. It does not replace AdCP-compliant agents. It provides the infrastructure those agents operate through.

A buyer using an AdCP-compliant buying agent can negotiate with any AdCP-compliant sell-side agent through Alkimi without bespoke integration between buyer and seller. The protocol handles the communication. Alkimi handles the venue. This means a buyer's existing AdCP-compliant agent is compatible with Alkimi without additional build work, provided the sell-side agent is equally compliant.

Why Standards Compliance Matters for Buyers

A marketplace that has committed to AAMP compliance provides structural governance guarantees that a proprietary system does not. The guarantees are architectural.

The deal record is credible not because the marketplace promises accurate records, but because both parties hold it independently. Audit rights are not discretionary. They exist because both parties have direct access to their own copy, without any dependence on the marketplace.

For buyers moving AI buying agents into production, the practical question is not whether a marketplace claims to be neutral. The question is whether neutrality and deal record integrity are built into the architecture of the platform. A proprietary system can change its terms, its fee structure, or its record-keeping behaviour without the buyer having any structural recourse. A system built to AAMP cannot do that without ceasing to be compliant.

AAMP provides the specification. Alkimi provides the implementation. Buyers evaluating agentic marketplace options can use the four AAMP requirements as the basis of that evaluation and assess Alkimi, or any other marketplace, against each one in turn.