MIAMI BEACH, FL: The 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies) has launched the Advertiser Protection Bureau (APB), an agency-led body that will push for trustworthy environments that benefit marketers and consumers alike.

Marla Kaplowitz, president/CEO of the 4A’s, revealed the APB will focus on an “Advertising Assurance” agenda that tackles brand safety concerns, as exemplified by digital ads appearing next to inappropriate or offensive content.

“There has been a lot of discussion around brand safety,” she explained during a keynote session at the trade association’s 2018 Accelerate conference. (For more, read WARC's in-depth report: 4A's Kaplowitz champions agencies, new "advertiser assurance".)

“What’s unique about 'Advertising Assurance' is that it evolves that discussion to a more holistic view of what our responsibility is to consumers, to brands and to each other, because advertising assurance can’t happen if we’re not communicating with each other and working together.”

The APB’s founding members will include executives from Dentsu Aegis Network, GroupM, Havas Media, Horizon Media, IPG Mediabrands, MDC Partners, Omnicom Media Group and Publicis Media.

Kaplowitz said that these agencies will “share the collective responsibility of achieving ‘Advertising Assurance’, which is how the association defines its efforts to enforce environments where brands and consumers can coexist with trust.”

One of the APB’s initial aims will involve working with advertisers to categorise the “risk” that characterises different environments – running from “most safe” to “least safe” – so agencies, brands and publishers can ensure that advertisers find the right partners.

In addition, the APB will work with the Media Rating Council (MRC), a non-profit that sets media-measurement standards, to develop new principles for the latter organization’s Brand Safety Guidelines.

Media agencies within the Bureau will also assist the MRC in identifying ways to help mitigate the spread of fake news, which has become a pressing challenge for the digital industry.

Education is a further priority for the APB, and it plans to create a playbook that outlines “standards, metrics, methodologies and tools” that enable brands and consumers to avoid “unsafe environments”.

Sourced from WARC