Brand safety is a serious concern for marketers
Within&nbsp;the ad industry much attention is given to fraud, viewability, and more recently&nbsp;ad-blocking, but brand safety is another troubling issue&nbsp;that can seriously damage marketers reputations.&nbsp;Marketers need to make sure that&nbsp;ads are placed alongside relevant content, not toxic content that can damage the brand value. One way this can be solved is&nbsp;to get marketers to work with the technology partners to vet potentially inappropriate placements. This ensures that brands are not wasting their money on ads that will be placed next to disturbing content.
By John Snyder, CEO, Grapeshot



Fraud, viewability, and, more recently, the rising threat of consumer ad blocking have consumed much of the industry debate. You might be surprised to know there is another troubling issue, brand safety, that has not received enough attention and, if not addressed, can have harmful implications for marketers.

Ensuring an ad is actually seen by a real human, in an above-the-fold ad space, is of obvious importance. But once that ad is seen, the consumer should draw a positive conclusion about the brand. That is the sole purpose of advertising, and it is lost completely when a brand is placed alongside toxic content: The auto brand ad inserted into content about product defects; the fast food ad placed adjacent to content highlighting obesity; or airline ads alongside coverage of crash disasters.