The 5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Protect Your Brand—and Your Customers

Piracy malware and unsafe adjacencies are persistent perils for advertisers and the agencies managing their campaigns And as all media increasingly digitize to engage consumers the dangers continue to emerge and move into new forms of media like overthetop OTT platformsIf your brand appears adjacent to violent offensive or otherwise unsafe content seven out of 10 of your customers will take umbrage to your presence there Many will assume you39ve placed your ad there on purpose a tacit endorsement of dangerous and distasteful content even if that content couldn39t be further from your brand39s valuesFortunately agencies are well positioned to help brands prepare ahead of timeamp8212and just as in a community lock arms and barricade brands against the bad actorsIt takes a villageA year ago at the 4A39s Advertising Assurance Forum an agency participant said quotWhen I39m doing brandsafety checks for my brands I see other brands that I know shouldn39t be there Is there a way I can pick up a phone or send an email to tell another agency to get their brands out of therequotThat question led to the birth of the 4A39s Advertiser Protection Bureau APB And with the APB in place we have worked extensively with publishers platforms and ad verificationbrand safety vendors to lay out a framework to better manage the industry39s expectations for acceptable content for consumer brandsAll this work has culminated in the new Brand Safety Playbook which we published this summer with the Trustworthy Accountability Group TAG and IAB Tech Lab as part of a larger effort to fight cybercrime and make content choices relevant based on brand and company preferencesThe playbook is a living document that agencies can use immediately It runs through five steps you can take at once to protect your brands and your consumersamp8212before your next crisis unfolds1 Establish a brand safety and suitability profileIn the event of a crisis one key to recovery is following your response process how you39ll notify team members who will reach out to media partners which details to communicate and so onEstablishing this process ahead of time involves creating not just a clear line of communication but also a clear set of communication goals Decide on the outcome you want to accomplishamp8212then accomplish it2 Now structure your profileThis means structuring your buys and terms Among other things to consider make sure you39re placing media buys with safe partners Work with those who are TAGcertified and meet the most stringent policy requirements such as the California Consumer Privacy Act which takes effect Jan 1 2020For programmatic buys you can select and prioritize authorized sellers by using the online tools adstxt to verify the safety of browserbased inventory and appadstxt for mobile app inventory3 Manage your accountabilityTo manage brand safety and metrics including invalid traffic and viewability work with an adverification vendor accredited by the Media Rating Council MRC Understand your publishers39 verification technology acceptance policiesYou can only manage risk you can measure Stay mindful of current video standards such as VAST 41 an upgrade some publishers and vendors may not yet have implemented Make sure you work with partners that are up to speed4 Evaluate optimize and replanThis might involve adjusting your programmatic buys to consider vendors according to their safety and standards Take note of vendors with a history of violations sites that are difficult to manage or show evidence of unsafe or unsuitable content TAG certification and other attributes that may help you decide whether to rethink your media buy5 Don39t quit while you39re aheadKeeping a few steps ahead of cybercriminals is an ongoing neverending effort Your mission is to keep pace with the tools and rules that help you keep your brand out of troubleamp8212the latest versions of technology standards compliance training and certificationsThis all sounds daunting but the good news is that you39re not on your own Awareness of the problem keeps growing and other newer media alternatives are establishing their own defenses The APB is now working on a better understanding of OTT and connected TV39s CTV risk of fraud and contextual brand safetyBad actors unfortunately are as creative and resourceful as they are dangerous We need to be even more creative thoughtful and collaborative to keep them at bay And as an industry following brand safety guidelines can help us keep a step ahead of what can become unfortunate circumstancesamp8212for brands and consumersPhoto credit Michael Geiger UnsplashClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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The 5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Protect Your Brand—and Your Customers

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Louis Jones

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The 5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Protect Your Brand—and Your Customers

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