Integral Ad Science
  • Solutions
    BY PRODUCT TYPE
    Ad Fraud
    Brand Safety & Suitability
    Contextual Targeting
    Viewability
    Efficiency & Optimization
    BY CHANNEL
    CTV & Video
    Programmatic
    Proprietary Platforms
    Mobile & In-App
    Audio
    BY CUSTOMER TYPE
    Brands & Agencies
    Publishers
    Platforms & Partners
  • Insights
    IAS Insider
    Media Quality Report
    Research
  • Innovation
  • About
    Quality Impressions™
    Newsroom
    Leadership & Awards
    Careers
  • Careers
Log in
Investor Relations
Contact
US US
UK UK DE DE ES ES FR FR IT IT JP JP BR BR LATAM LATAM APAC APAC Korean Korean
Integral Ad Science
  • Solutions
    BY PRODUCT TYPE
    Ad Fraud
    Brand Safety & Suitability
    Contextual Targeting
    Viewability
    Efficiency & Optimization
    BY CHANNEL
    CTV & Video
    Programmatic
    Proprietary Platforms
    Mobile & In-App
    Audio
    BY CUSTOMER TYPE
    Brands & Agencies
    Publishers
    Platforms & Partners
  • Insights
    IAS Insider
    Media Quality Report
    Research
  • Innovation
  • About
    Quality Impressions™
    Newsroom
    Leadership & Awards
    Careers
  • Careers
Log in
Contact Us
US US
UK UK DE DE ES ES FR FR IT IT JP JP BR BR LATAM LATAM APAC APAC Korean Korean
  1. Home
  2. | News
  3. | Brand safety goes beyond advertising: is the industry taking it seriously?
March 1, 2018 by IAS Team

Brand safety goes beyond advertising: is the industry taking it seriously?

Leaders from brands, agencies and publishers pushed the brand-safety debate forward at a Campaign-GumGum hosted breakfast…

“Ensure a good customer experience on an individual level. Protect reputation of the bank on a macro level. Get fair return for our investment. These are our three broad objectives – backed by strategies – to ensure we’re delivering the safest experience we can in a world that’s less safe in digital,” said Lou Paskalis, senior vice president, enterprise executive at Bank of America.

The brand safety issue is a major industry concern. The topic underpinned a lively discussion during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona – with Computer Vision company GumGum and Campaign hosting. Marketers, agencies and publishers discussed how the industry can come together to tackle advertising’s growing threat.

‘Brand safety’ is different for everyone

There’s no one-size-fits all description of brand safety according to the varied responses from speakers – so is there a one-size-fits solution?

James Londal, chief data officer at Hearts & Science believes brand safety stems from a larger quality problem: “We want our adverts to appear in the best place. We need to have greater control over where ads appear, regardless of the platform. We need to have a certain standard of quality on the content. Platforms need to ensure the quality level is maintained.”

But appropriateness is a key word that Merkle’s SVP agency of  solutions, Tom Byrne, used: “There are some things that aren’t appropriate in any situation – that shouldn’t be there. What distinguishes brand safety from performance advertising is about relevance within circumstance.

It’s about people’s individual feelings and how they feel, which makes it harder to quantify.”

Rafe Blandford, mobile strategy director at DigitasLBI, added:  “It’s about protecting brand equity. And it’s about protecting relationship with your customer. Brand safety goes beyond advertising.”

Is brand safety taken seriously? 


Brand safety has been a hot talking point in the last two years with global CMOs such as Marc Pritchard and Keith Weed championing a better, more transparent, safer digital ecosystem – but not all brands are focussing on it. Laricea Roman-Halliday, head of digital at The Specialist Works said: “There are some clients who are very concerned about brand safety but some who are ready to compromise to get more reach and volume.”

“We’re trying to be transparent and educate. But the lack of minimum standard makes it incredibly hard. We should be on a mission to push those standards. And we should refuse to work with publishers who refuse to work to those minimum standards.”

Ben Phillips, global head of mobile at MediaCom, added that if advertisers have got a more traditional reach-and-frequency mentality, brand safety isn’t such a priority:  “We’ve had a rough year with ad  fraud, blocking and bots – we’re all looking for standards that we can all work to.”

But some marketers – including Paskalis – are hugely invested in brand safety. Paskalis works closely with publishers and vendors, measuring and rating their performance and taking investment back from the poorest performers. Paskalis explained: “It is a weapon for me to go back to publishers and say, if you want my business – we’re going to deduct based on performance metrics.”

Read the full article in Campaign here.

Posted on March 1, 2018May 13, 2021
IAS white red logo
Sign up for fresh insights

Solutions

By Product Type

Ad Fraud

Brand Safety & Suitability

Contextual Targeting

Viewability

Efficiency & Optimization

By Channel

CTV & Video

Programmatic

Proprietary Platforms

Mobile & In-App

Audio

By Customer Type

Brands & Agencies

Publishers

Platforms & Partners

Insights

IAS Insider

Research

Media Quality Reports

About IAS

Quality Impressions™

Newsroom

Leadership & Awards

Careers

Helpful Links

Contact

Log in

© 2023 Integral Ad Science, Inc.

Accessibility_Icon Accessibility statement

Site indexing policy

Privacy policy

Subscription management

Transparent Background - Social Media
Transparent Background - Social Media
Transparent Background - Social Media
Transparent Background - Social Media
Transparent Background - Social Media

Site indexing policy

Privacy policy

Subscription management

Transparent Background - Social Media
Transparent Background - Social Media
Transparent Background - Social Media
Transparent Background - Social Media
Transparent Background - Social Media

© 2021 Integral Ad Science, Inc.

Search

Hit enter to search or ESC to close

Subscribe now

Fill out the form to sign up for the latest and greatest IAS updates— delivered right to your inbox.

Thank you for signing up for the IAS Newsletter.