Programmatic lead generation

A system for programmatic lead generation, the system comprising automated computing machinery including a CTO ad server and a CTO payload server configured for:

• receiving, by the CTO ad server from an email client, a request for an advertisement (‘ad’) invoked by a user opening an email having embedded within it a CTO ad unit;
• selecting, by the CTO ad server from a database in response to the request, a CTO ad bundle,
• wherein the CTO ad bundle comprises a CTO ad having an associated campaign ID, and
• wherein selecting a CTO ad bundle further comprises selecting an ad bundle in dependence upon opt-in selection criteria,
• sending, by the ad server to the email client, a response with the selected CTO ad and a redirect to a CTO payload server associated with the campaign ID;
• receiving, by the CTO payload server in response to the email client invoking the redirect, an email address and the campaign ID;
• and
• administering, by the CTO payload server, an opt-in for a marketing campaign identified by the campaign ID with the email address.