Adotat Interview: How Origin Made DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimization) cool - And Other Inconvenient Truths For CMOs in CTV.

Article written by Pesach Lattin, Adotat.

To find the original article on Adotat - click here.

Fred Godfrey doesn’t do polite fiction. He’s the kind of guy who shows up to an ad tech dinner party, drops a truth bomb in the hummus, and then calmly offers you a fork.

He opens with a question that should haunt every CMO’s quarterly check-in: “Is it a not knowing or is it not wanting to know situation?” Fred likens it to his unused gym membership—a truth you ignore until it quietly auto-renews your failure.

And that, dear reader, is the state of modern media buying.

Once clients do learn what’s possible with dynamic creative that actually performs, they stop hedging and start spending. “Every one of our mainstay clients increases their budgets with us by almost a hundred percent year on year,” Fred said, barely pretending it’s not awkward to say out loud. “And they have done that for five years.”

It’s not ego. It’s exposure. The moment you stop pretending impressions are a KPI and actually track outcomes, everything changes

The Hero-Making Myth of the Media Buyer

Fred gets it—no one wants to be the agency that’s just cheap enough to keep. “Media buyers need to hit real thresholds now—actual outcomes, ROAS, all those initials that really matter,” he said, punctuating it like someone who’s been in more than a few pitch rooms.

Origin’s approach? Make them look like geniuses. “Our job is to make you the hero for your client,” he explained. “You don't want the revolving door of people going in and out just looking for the cheapest agency. You need an agency that helps you hit your mark—and makes you look good doing it.”

And yes, the creative helps. A lot.

Stop Worshipping the Logo. Start Watching the Return.

Fred doesn't think a strong brand is useless—he just knows it’s not a free pass anymore. “A lot of people still think they can run generic creative, get clever with targeting or frequency, and squeeze out incremental gains,” he told us. But that’s the old playbook. The final desperate flip of a yellowing binder from 2014.

What actually works? A story people want to watch—and a placement smart enough to make that story relevant without making it creepy. “You need to look at the story itself. What we do is show people what happens if you do both—manage the media smartly and build a truly dynamic creative framework.”

It’s not enough to optimize around fragments. You have to optimize the whole damn narrative.

How Origin Made DCO Cool (Without Sounding Like a Scam)

Let’s be honest: DCO has a branding problem. Most “dynamic” campaigns are just static ads with a badge and a timestamp. Fred knows this, and he knows where it gets weird. “We all made that mistake in the past,” he said, smirking. “No one wants to turn on their TV and see an ad say, ‘Hey Johnny, we hear it’s your 41st birthday—and that you and your neighbor Carl both suffer from ED.’”

Instead, Fred wants DCO that creates real, meaningful moments. Think mortgage rate changes by zip code. Think lawn care ads that reference the actual rainfall in your county. “It’s about creating a value exchange between the viewer and the brand. Something you don’t expect to see on TV, but that actually feels like it belongs.”

The secret? It still starts with the same “hero” ad. You just surgically enhance it—not slap a chyron over the actor’s face with a weather warning.

Origin’s approach involves watching every frame, every transition, and asking: “Where can this story be enhanced?” Not how can we add a gimmick, but how can we respect the narrative and still make it feel alive?

Why Read This

Because Fred just told you the part your DSP rep won’t. You’ve been optimizing for efficiency when you should’ve been optimizing for resonance. You’ve been layering tech on top of garbage creative and wondering why it doesn’t work.

You’ve been pretending not to know.

Fred’s here to make you know—and once you do, like his clients, you won’t go back.

If you find this topic interesting and would like to know more, you can schedule a consultation with one of Origin's CTV specialists by clicking here.

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ABOUT ORIGIN 

Origin is an award winning provider of creative solutions and services for media buyers, creative teams and brands who want to transform conventional CTV ad creatives into powerful, personal and provocative advertising experiences.

With unparalleled creative capabilities and proprietary ad serving technology, Origin’s unique suite of dynamic ad overlays and native CTV ad extensions allows advertisers to engage distracted audiences and achieve the results they need.

Founded by media veterans Stephen Strong and Fred Godfrey, Origin is driven by the belief that winning viewers today requires breaking free from how it was done yesterday.

Learn more at: originmedia.tv