'Integrity of content will impact the effectiveness and performance of digital advertising'

Brands need to always be ready and vigilant when it comes to the right advertisers and image. This is because competing brands and offensive or irrelevant content are going to be lumped in “with your advertising, regardless of your intentions”,  according to Charlie Cole, chief digital officer of the global suitcase and bags manufacturer TUMI.The integrity of content, Cole said, will impact the effectiveness and performance of digital advertising. He noted the variety of perspectives to consider when advertising TUMI’s brand, adding perspectives are subjective, and though individual perspectives will influence a consumer’s response to an advertisement, consumers have a wide range of values and beliefs.“I believe that consumers are going to give more rapport to an advertisement on a medium they respect. That said, it is hard to tell which consumers will respect which mediums, and given the fact that we have a wide range of customers, determining which medium may be more appropriate can often be a gray area for us,” he added.In cases where TUMI has any question about the potential impact an advertisement would have, it’s the creative director who will be the one making with the final call.Protecting your brandTo minimise brand exposure to questionable content, Cole cited the well-defined guidelines of avoiding drugs, sex and violence. The rules are less clear, however, when the content switches to politics, social issues or similar categories in which personal biases could influence decisions.To ensure the brand is not associated with harmful content, TUMI utilises a rigorous screening process. By monitoring its ads, the company is able to track ad effectiveness. TUMI also employs blacklisting of unsatisfactory sites to aid in its monitoring of potentially harmful content.“You can take your best shot at brand safety, but new content pops up every day, and there is a balance of being proactive and reactive,” Cole said.While Cole believes that ad networks need to be transparent, he also conceded that it is not the ad networks who should be solely responsible for protecting the brand because “every single brand is different.”“If the ad network tells us where we might show up and polices our responses, they have done their part. We, the brand, have to decide whether the content is acceptable for our image,” he added.Read also: Under pressure: Should media agencies take all responsibility for brand safety?Just like TUMI, David Oksman, Reebok’s head of global strategic communications planning and US activation – said to avoid any inadvertent brand appearances alongside inappropriate content, David Oksman, Reebok’s head of global strategic communications planning and US activation said Reebok’s response involves a diverse and comprehensive toolbox of solutions.“We are taking significant steps already to combat this problem by making every effort to adopt third-party adtech to block fraudulent impressions, monitoring viewability, and setting up private marketplaces within programmatic” he said.Reebok is also working with its media agency and partners to track quality delivery and determine the KPIs it needs to put in place for brand safety. It has embraced a suite of brand-safety solutions. They range from active quality monitoring via technology partners to more careful buy selections, including regular whitelisting and blacklisting of sites.Meanwhile, Maggie Chan Jones, former chief marketing officer at SAP said the brand takes brand safety very seriously. The company uses third-party verification services and also regularly tests new ones to ensure they doing everything they can to manage brand safety and ensure the integrity of digital ad placements.Jones said vigilance should not only be about “the content of the content,” but also the timing of the content. For example, otherwise benign content could be jarring for consumers who follow sensitive events in the news.“The goal is to take ad placement to the next level by elevating beyond simply not appearing near objectionable content; rather, the goal is to ensure that ads are showing up in the right place, with the right context, and at the right time,” she said.“Doing that requires consistent and ongoing collaboration with partners and a clear vision of what the brand represents and how the company wants it to be perceived,” she added.Cole, Oksman and Jones were quoted in the study by Dow Jones and CMO Council, titled "Brand protection from digital content infection."