This reflection explores the progression of digital advertising through three phases: interactive advertising, programmatic advertising, and intelligent advertising. It highlights how each phase brings new attributes while preserving key attributes from earlier phases. These attributes emerge from the implementation of new technologies in digital advertising in each phase. As a result, each subsequent phase of digital advertising proves to be more effective and efficient than its predecessors. Focusing on the future of digital advertising, this study proposed several research questions to elevate intelligent advertising studies to new heights.