Protecting the brand in the era of fake news: Why brands need advertisement verification tools

Abstract

The digital display advertising ecosystem – advertisers, agencies, publishers, adtech vendors – experienced a trust crisis that peaked in March 2017 as fake news, misinformation, conspiracy theories and extremist content proliferated in the wake of the US presidential election cycle of 2016. Brand safety has become a buzzword of choice as advertisers reevaluate how they are buying digital display advertising, the controls they have in place to ensure their advertising appears alongside content that is in keeping with their brands, and how to balance reach with control. This paper examines how: (1) brands have been forced to adapt to a changing landscape; (2) to evaluate the adtech options available to brands for monitoring and blocking the placement of advertisements; (3) Google, Facebook and adtech vendors have responded to advertiser calls for more controls and (4) brand managers can implement a brand safety plan of their own.