If you’re looking for the hottest topic in the advertising world right now, there is no doubt that brand safety would be at the top of the list. And so it should – it’s important.
But in the heat of the current discussions it feels like the right time to provide a myth busting summary so that it doesn’t become a topic open to abuse.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room and work down from there:
1. Brand Safety applies to ALL media channels
It may be fun to turn digital into the punching bag for brand safety concerns but the reality is that brand safety has been a concern since the day advertising began.
In my classical days of marketing, I was certainly never happy when my print ad ran adjacent to an unpleasant news story, but it was a risk you were prepared to take. S
ame applies for TV spots running around unsavoury news stories. I also remember the time my Dove poster ad ran on a site in a particularly dodgy part of town. I wasn’t happy.
And then you can consider radio - I remain a fan of radio, but there's no certainty about the audio environment a shock jock might create with a rather racy story line just before your ad is schedule to run.
I could go on but you get the drift. Brand safety is media question and not just a digital one. Marketers have always relied on agencies and publishers to warn them of any risks and to detail the mitigations available. That’s not changed.
2. Brand safety means different things to different brands and categories
If I run a cheeky underwear brand I will have a different view on the media strategy as compared to if I were running a conservative insurance brand.
One size does not fit all (pun intended) and each brand and their owners will have different views of where they are prepared for their brand to appear. Regardless of these differences, there is no argument that certain types of content will never be acceptable for any brand.
3. Publisher content is more varied than ever
The speed of content creation (UGC and otherwise) is forever increasing and it is incumbent on publishers working in this space to keep up with and take responsibility for supporting brand safety.
By the same measure – publishers are an exceptionally diverse group and while they all have different approaches they must all take responsibility for brand safety.
They need to ensure that they have created a user interface for advertisers and their agencies, or allow suitable third party technology that is easy to use.
The flip side of that of course is that marketers and agencies alike must both “get into the weeds” (as Marc Pritchard said) to make sure they understand the tools available to them to manage brand safety.
4. Marketers need to step up, digital techies need to simplify
Marc Pritchard’s rallying cry for senior marketers is one of the biggest positives in all of these discussions.
When it comes to topics like brand safety, there is huge opportunity for all marketers to understand how it works for a range of different types of publishers – large and small.
Agencies should be reviewing the methodologies offered by the publishers carefully and then the marketers need to take the time to review. This is a two-way road so both publishers and associated tech companies have a role to play.
They need to simplify their approach and the tools they use. Marketers need to decide where they want their ads to run based on understanding the spectrum of digital media options open to them and the level of investment they are prepared to make.
5. Actual Australian data on brand safety is critical
We totally support brands taking action around brand safety, reviewing their own data and processes. It’s important that they understand how different publishers work and the methodologies they each offer for brand safety.
Indeed, Australia has a range of big, high quality publishers with different approaches to brand safety and all of them take the subject very seriously.
Whilst IAS has shared some data about the levels of brand safety in Australia, we are in the process of exploring how we can capture and share the data at a total market level. As an industry we need to have the data in front of us before we react or make wild comments.
6. Keep sight of the consumer
Use of digital media by consumers is increasing at pace: 20 million Australians were online during February this year and the time they spend on digital continues to increase.
It should come as no surprise that the paid media market ad inventory pool shifted alongside this. But it’s bigger than just online advertising.
Consumers are increasingly opting for digital consumption of all their content across a plethora of media channels, which means as a marketing industry we need to continue to find solutions for brand safety and a multitude of other industry issues, as well as improved ways of delivery and automation.
The focus should be on the future of the whole advertising industry, not just the “digital” newcomers.
We aren’t shirking, but the duty and professional responsibility is upon us all to work together. We must hold each other to account but we should act on facts rather than just noise.
A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach won’t work when it comes to the brand safety discussions thanks to the diversity and size of our industry, but that’s even more reason for us to work as a unified front.
Ultimately, the consumer is in charge of our future and so we need to show them as a collective that we are on top of the issues.