Why is it important for advertising network providers to recognize the importance of brand responsibility?
Consumers have become increasingly sensitive to social and environmental causes, while also expecting brands to take action against global warming and play a greater role in social change.
Companies that build sustainability into their core strategies achieve, on average, up to 18% higher ROI. At the same time, distrust in online advertising and social media continues to grow.
If we want to rebuild long-term trust in digital advertising, we must choose to work with the right partner — meaning that selecting a responsible and suitable digital platform is essential.
The key to success is encouraging a sustainable advertising and media ecosystem by supporting quality journalism and respecting the connection between brands and consumers.
How does Interactive, together with partner Teads, maintain responsibility toward brands?
It is important for a digital platform to responsibly manage all intermediary steps — from brand safety and brand suitability to overall brand responsibility. This includes:
- High-quality ad presentation and placement within professionally produced content.
- Verification of third-party data – helping prevent misinformation.
- Control layers – defining keywords that are unsuitable to appear next to any brand (death, accidents, drugs, etc.), while also providing brands with recommendations and best practices that benefit them.
- We advocate a consultative approach to keyword blocklists. A good example is the keyword “covid”. Many brands did not want to appear next to COVID-related news, yet almost all news content included this keyword, which effectively removed brands from current news environments. At the same time, the keyword is not always used in a negative context and may even be relevant or beneficial for some brands.
- We strongly support quality journalism.
- Investment in media returns quality in the form of better ad performance, higher visibility, improved user experience, and better conversions.
Brand safety
In short, brands should carefully evaluate how each advertising network manages Brand Safety — in other words, how well a network ensures a safe environment for their advertising.
It is also the responsibility of successful brands to define what is appropriate for them in terms of Brand Suitability, including the type of news context in which they should appear, which brand combinations are acceptable, and which are not.