What is brand safety?
Brand safety is a way for companies to avoid damaging their brand’s reputation, messaging, and integrity. This is done by placing advertisements next to websites, videos, articles, podcasts, and social media posts that contradict the brand’s identity and misconstrue the intention of the advertisement.
Brands turn to controlled advertising environments like programmatic marketing platforms and direct programmatic deals to avoid advertisements landing in less-than-ideal placements. While premium placements are more expensive, they tend to be more effective at reaching target audiences without the risk.
Organizations also turn to brand protection software to manage online information about their products and services. These tools analyze online product and pricing details to ensure accurate information and comply with corporate standards.
Benefits of brand safety
Brand safety is how companies secure a safe environment for ad trading and safeguard their reputations while advertising online. This practice also improves ad ROI and the overall customer experience.
- Control the brand’s reputation: Proper brand safety helps organizations avoid the risk of misplacement that could harm the brand’s reputation. Examples of misplacement occur when ads are placed by fake news, extremist content, vulgar content, or simply in irrelevant context. It also eliminates the funding of content that breaches copyright standards or is fraudulent.
- Good editorial placement makes for better ads: The context in which digital ads are displayed can sway click through rates. Reputation concerns aside, placing ads in unfortunate juxtaposition can result in lower-than-average ROI.
- Better user experience: Advertising on content relevant to the target audience shows customers the brand cares about creating a personalized user experience. Ads are often the customer’s first impression of the brand. If ads are relevant to the content users are browsing, the likelihood of a future purchase increases.
Brand safety measures by platform
Every advertising platform has its own way of handling brand safety threats. These tools are constantly evolving. Here’s what advertisers can expect from the top advertising platforms:
- Facebook launched an initiative to give advertisers more control over brand safety by providing transparent publisher lists and delivery reports. This allows advertisers to choose where ads are displayed and what they’re displayed near. Advertisers can block publishers they never want to advertise with. Inventory options with tiered exclusions are available for In-Stream video and Instant Article advertisements.
- Instagram has brand safety control settings that are available in the Business Manager and apply to all content, whether it’s delivered on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or the Audience Network.
- YouTube uses artificial intelligence to moderate and remove content that breaches guidelines. YouTube also introduced a fact-checking tool and enlisted help from DoubleVerify.
- LinkedIn thoroughly vets publishers and hasn’t encountered any serious brand safety concerns.
- Twitter is often considered the most brand-safe, and has a thorough set of “safe for ads” content guidelines along with a strike system that suspends users who fail to follow them.
- Google Ads has taken safety measures like updating their hate speech policy, eliminating extremist and counterfeit sites, and allowing page-level ad removal functionality.
- Reddit uses a sign-off system where advertisers can pick the platforms where their advertisements are shown to counteract the danger that follows anonymity.
Brand safety best practices
Proper brand safety is all about being proactive and transparent. Here are some measures advertisers can take to ensure their brand is safe:
- Define brand safety: Every company has a different definition of brand safety. One organization might find acceptable what another organization does not. Companies have to define brand safety within the context of their industry and organization.
- Get the data: Brands need to know where their ads are shown and how their advertising budget is spent.
- Go premium: Premium placements are more expensive and don’t reach as many users. However, they offer a level of safety other placements don’t and also tend to reach the right audiences.
- Use exclusions and avoid blacklisted publishers: Adding exclusions or negative targets is a way to control where your ads are shown. And although blacklisted publishers are less expensive, the low prices aren’t worth the risk.
- Consider third-party verification: Third-party data verification is a way to confirm publishers are safe before publishing. This is a good option for companies prioritizing brand safety.
- Avoid the “dirty dozen”: The “dirty dozen” includes military conflict, obscenity, drugs, tobacco, adult, arms, crime, death or injury, online piracy, hate speech, terrorism, spam and harmful sites, and fake news. Avoiding these is a good practice for ensuring brand safety.
- Utilize native advertising: This advertising technique produces content that aligns seamlessly with the platform’s native content, aligning ads with content the user is already interested in and not disrupting the user’s scrolling experience.
Brand safety vs. brand suitability
Brand safety and brand suitability are sometimes used interchangeably, but brand safety is actually more general than brand suitability.
- Brand safety: How brands avoid content harmful to their reputation.
- Brand suitability: How brands decide what is acceptable in the context of their organization.
Most companies avoid the same brand safety threats. However, when it comes to what’s considered brand-suitable, answers vary widely.
Martha Kendall Custard
Martha Kendall Custard is a former freelance writer for G2. She creates specialized, industry specific content for SaaS and software companies. When she isn't freelance writing for various organizations, she is working on her middle grade WIP or playing with her two kitties, Verbena and Baby Cat.
