MIAMI BEACH: The Advertising Protection Bureau led by the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies) will help advertisers run campaigns in line with their “risk” preferences and provide mechanisms to enhance brand safety.

Marla Kaplowitz, president/CEO of the 4A’s, discussed this topic at the trade body’s 2018 Accelerate conference – including plans to develop a spectrum of risk to guide advertisers and analyse the power of white lists.

“We know there’s a very different level of tolerance across advertisers when it comes to risk,” she said. (For more, read WARC’s in-depth report: 4A’s gives definition to new Advertising Protection Bureau.)

“What we want to do is make sure it’s clear: What is the high end in terms of what is quality? And what is the low end for what an advertiser might want?”

One objective is establishing a “floor” – or an industry-agreed set of ground rules/definitions – that align baseline expectations for safety.

The main challenge here, Kaplowitz offered, is, “How do we make sure that there is a consistent and clear floor to what is acceptable as it relates to brand safety?”

Equally important is identifying the approaches and methodologies that can move the industry forward, and finding “bad actors” within the ecosystem.

The Media Rating Council, a body charged with developing valid, reliable and effective audience measurement standards, will play a key role in developing standards.

“The Media Rating Council is currently working on brand-safety guidelines and taking feedback,” Kaplowitz said. “We are working to accelerate that so there is clear alignment from an industry perspective.”

Brand safety incidents, the trade-organization leader related to the Miami Beach assembly, will be among the drivers that kick the APB into action.

And, as Kaplowitz explained, the mechanism is simple: “It allows someone at an agency who may see an advertiser on a site with fraudulent activity to notify someone else immediately about the situation.

“This is a huge step forward to mitigate fraud in the industry and in the digital supply chain,” she continued. “But the reason that we’re doing this is to continue the conversation; it’s not just stopping with what we have today.”

Sourced from WARC