It’s No Longer Good Enough to Tick ‘Brand Safety’ Off on a Checklist : Q&A with Angie French, Xaxis

As we reflect on the past year, there have been a number of events that have impacted our industry; the ANA released their explosive report investigating non-transparent business practices in advertising; the Rio Olympics brought light upon the censorship within social media; the launch of Pokemon Go created a global frenzy, leading to artificial intelligence quickly becoming a hot topic of discussion; and we saw politics leveraged on a monumental scale through digital media.

ExchangeWire sat down with Angie French, Xaxis pan-regional managing director, to get her views on some of the changes and developments in the industry, her role, and her predictions for 2017. 

ExchangeWire: Looking at key political moments of 2016, like Brexit and the US elections, how do you feel this has influenced the changing advertising landscape?

Angie French: We are starting to see an evolution in European advertising; but the key word here is ‘evolution’, which is gradual. Regulations across Europe are very stringent, particularly in regards to politics; so there just isn’t the capacity for political parties to invest as much in advertising campaigns in the same way that other countries, such as the US, can. Political parties in America are able to campaign more freely across all media and channels and aren’t limited by content restrictions. Despite fewer limitations also on campaign funding, it is giving rise to a more disruptive form of content dissemination. President elect Donald Trump, for example, used the reach of social media to its full effect, resulting in a diminished level of investment than would normally be seen in political advertising; a point proven by the fact his campaign raised USD$795m (£543.8m) versus Hillary Clinton’s USD$1.3bn (£0.9bn). Shared content is powerful and impactful and, by its very nature, a highly influential form of communication. I feel that, where Facebook has previously been a source of truth, with content deemed more trustworthy as it was shared by friend circles, this is no longer the case. It is becoming harder to distinguish between what is trustworthy and what is not. A view reinforced by the recent news implying the likes of Facebook and other social platforms should actually be more accountable and control the information or ‘misinformation’ being shared. This only accentuates the increasing importance and responsibility being placed on social media.

Given the recent revelations that people are relying more and more on digital sources to obtain news and information, what role does brand safety have to play?

Brand safety is an ‘always on’ state of mind for all marketers working in the digital space. We are increasingly likely to see the need for marketers to be more vigilant and aware of where they are appearing – not just to whom, but in what context. It reinforces that marketers need to work with platforms integrated with best-in-class brand safety providers. There are so many examples of poorly placed ads from major brands. Two that stick out for varying reasons are an underwater iPad Air ad being placed above an article about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crashing into the Indian Ocean on the New York Times website, and an Uber ad on the Washington Post site next to an article about an Uber driver breaking into a passenger’s house after dropping them off at the airport.

We should all be encouraging a detailed dialogue with marketers about brand safety, bringing it into the discussions at the same level as a marketer’s campaign objectives. It’s no longer good enough to just tick ‘brand safety’ off on a checklist.

Shifting gears now, a study by the IPA this year found that, while there is gender equality in junior and middle manager levels in the advertising industry, the figure drops to 30% of senior positions being held by women. What do you think the future holds for women and diversity in the workplace, particularly in the digital industry?

At Xaxis, we constantly strive for an inclusive, diverse workplace. So far, in my career, I have worked in engineering, enterprise software development, and advertising. I feel that advertising is the most female-friendly environment and we see women at all levels in our industry. Through Xaxis and the wider WPP group, I am now part of an in-house initiative, ‘X-Women’, which run events that support and promote gender diversity in the workplace. I am also a member of WACL (Women in Advertising Communications Leadership), alongside the likes of Karen Blackett OBE, chairwoman of MediaCom UK, Maxus Worldwide’s CEO, Lindsay Pattison, and Nicolle Pangis, global COO of [m]Platform who has also recently been voted #26 in Adweek’s top 50 most indispensable execs in marketing, media, and tech. So, you can see that women are empowered, welcomed, and embraced in their senior positions within the industry. 

However, that is not to say our work is complete. There are a lot of initiatives taking place in this industry to ensure we are creating a more gender-diverse environment and, going forward, I have every confidence that the industry will continue with these efforts to support the equal development of women.

What are your predictions for what 2017 holds for marketers in digital advertising?

– The evolving marketer

CMOs require the ability to be able to tie back digital advertising investment to the bottom line of their businesses, as more pressure for spend justification and accountability for revenue generation increases. GroupM have recently launched [m]PLATFORM, the world’s most powerful collection of data, technology, and expertise. As part of GroupM, Xaxis is a key player in the new platform, which will enable global audience addressability and accountability across all media.

– Disruptive innovation

Disruptive growth from new, innovative advertising formats, like augmented reality, will become an increasing part of a marketer’s advertising strategy. With the explosion of Pokemon Go this year we saw that, not only are users ready to engage, but it also holds huge earning potential.

– Shifting the risk

Guaranteed outcomes will become commonplace as we shift towards more accountability in marketing spend. We’ve started to see it in 2016, with guaranteed viewability metrics in digital campaigns, which have seen a surge of support from advertising platforms in response to marketer needs for greater transparency. A focus for us at Xaxis in 2017 will be ‘defining a guarantee’, meaning measurable performance for our clients to help them accurately determine and justify investment decisions.

Digital advertising is experiencing perpetual change and 2016 has certainly proven what an exciting space it is to be in. Challenges faced this year are starting to be addressed and opening up opportunities, with collaboration taking place across the ecosystem to define goals required to achieve marketer needs. The industry is still on an ongoing journey, but promising developments from the areas of innovative advertising delivery, workplace diversity and addressing the needs of the marketer and the audience ensure we are setting off on the right foot.