The spread of disinformation and misinformation seriously damages a brand’s reputation. The statistics shows that between 2019 and 2021, at least twenty-five million US dollars were generated in advertising revenue through the publication of conspiracy content pertaining to coronavirus on about five-hundred disinformation web sites.
What is even more scaring than the above is the finding that about fifteen percent of the expenditure of a brand on advertising cannot be attributed to programmatic networks.
Data shows that over half of the Generation X and millennial consumers have low chances of purchasing from a business if its ads appear in an unreliable environment. Ensuring brand safety and brand suitability has become very important for brands.
Misinformation and disinformation are not only consuming ad spend budget of brands, but is also damaging brand image built over the years.
When dealing with brand safety, there are two main concerns for marketers. Firstly, marketers want to avoid ad placement next to content that is harmful or inappropriate. Secondly, not only marketers but also brands and the whole advertising industry want to completely cut the revenue derived from advertising for websites spreading misinformation or disinformation.
Brands should overcome misconceptions surrounding brand safety
One of the most common misconceptions about brand safety solutions is that the use of blacklisted keywords is the best approach to prevent ad placement against harmful or unsuitable content. Keyword-only often leads to blocking of content that actually is perfectly safe and suitable for a brand, thus considerably reducing the reach of a digital advertising campaign. Thus, keyword-only brand safety and suitability solutions provide a false sense of security to marketers.
Another common misconception is that news environment is bad for placement of a brand’s ads. this is only true for those news web sites that spread misinformation and disinformation. Brands should always go for vetted news websites.
Brands should take certain actions to ensure brand safety
First of all, brands should create a brand safety and suitability strategy according to the nature of their business. Brands should identify brand safety risks that they think are most important for their business.
After creating the strategy, a brand should look for a brand safety solutions provider that can help it execute the strategy in order to achieve its brand safety goals. A brand should choose a provider that allows it to fully customize brand suitability content categories according to its specific business requirements. The chosen partner should offer full transparency and do a thorough analysis of a brand’s circumstances. It should not use one size fits all approach, provide a thorough consultation, and give a detailed report on where the ads appear and where they are prevented from appearing. These are important criteria that a brand safety and suitability solutions provider should fulfill.
It is best to choose a provider that offers artificial intelligence powered contextual brand safety solution. Such a solution is highly effective in protecting a brand’s reputation from damage caused by appearance of its ads next to harmful or unsuitable content.
