## What is brand safety?
The term “brand safety” refers to the concept of how to avoid the risk of damaging a company or product’s brand, and the initiatives taken to do so.
Brand safety is generally discussed in relation to paid media, such as internet advertising. However, the objects that people associate with a brand image are not limited to internet advertising, and brand safety should also be considered in relation to earned media and owned media.
There are three main points to consider when thinking about brand safety.
### 1. Ethics
This is when a company’s content goes against public order and morals, or leads to funding for antisocial forces. For example, in the case of internet advertising, there are many different places where ads can be displayed, and there is a possibility that the advertiser’s brand will be damaged if the ad is displayed in an unexpected place. This is the case where an advertisement for life insurance is displayed in a news article about insurance fraud.
### 2. Illegality
This is when a company’s content is published on a site that carries illegal content. For example, this is when a company’s ad is displayed on a media site that carries content that infringes on copyright, portrait rights, or facility management rights.
### 3. Quality
This is when a company’s content is displayed alongside content from other companies that does not match the company’s image or the brand image of the company’s products or services, or when the quality is noticeably low.
## What is brand safety in relation to videos?
So, what are the cases where videos threaten brand safety?
Compared to text and photos, videos have a more live feel and appeal to the senses of sight and hearing, and as content they are more likely to attract attention, so they have the characteristic of being much more likely to increase risk.
### 1. Ethics
There is a possibility that advertisers could provide funding to antisocial forces in a way that they do not intend. Specifically, this could be the case where video ads are displayed on videos produced by antisocial forces, and the advertising costs of advertisers are returned to antisocial groups.
In addition, since around 2013, there have been repeated incidents of so-called “bait terrorism”, where employees post videos of themselves playing pranks on social networking sites, which then go viral. In some cases, this has actually led to criminal or civil lawsuits, or even to a sudden drop in a company’s share price.
### 2. Illegality
There is a possibility that your company’s brand image will be damaged due to the impact of your company’s videos being illegally downloaded or uploaded, and being used in a way that damages your company’s image.
In recent years, there has also been a lot of talk about fake videos created using AI technology called “deepfakes”. In June 2019, a fake video of Facebook CEO Zuckerberg was confirmed. If deepfakes spread around the world on the internet, they could potentially lead to a decline in brand image and business performance by discouraging viewers with fake messages that contradict the messages that companies normally send out.
### 3. Quality
If the video quality is poor or the response is slow when the video is played, the viewer may feel stressed, which could damage the brand image. Nowadays, there is a wide variety of media, and many people watch short-form content one after another. If the viewer feels stressed, they will either switch to another video or stop watching the video.
Because videos appeal strongly to the senses of sight and hearing, if a negative impression is formed of a brand, it will be remembered even more strongly. There is also research that shows that 23% of users who have had a negative experience with a brand video will hesitate to purchase that company’s products.
When implementing video measures, it is necessary to give more consideration to brand safety.
## Latest trends in video brand safety
Incidents related to video have been occurring for over 10 years, mainly on video distribution platforms. Let’s take a look at some of the incidents related to video in 2019 and the countermeasures taken by major SNS companies.
– Nestlé Ltd. and McDonald’s Corporation withdrew their advertising from YouTube after a video blogger raised the issue that pedophiles were using YouTube to exchange information
– Twitter is currently working to improve its environment, including protocols, and expand partnerships in terms of content, in response to requests from video advertising advertisers, who account for more than half of its revenue, for brand safety and premium quality.
– Facebook is developing a brand safety API tool for Facebook video ads in response to requests from video advertising network vendors and advertisers.
Every time an incident like the one mentioned above occurs, video distribution platforms and SNS are strengthening their responses. However, it is difficult to completely eliminate risk, and since new problems continue to arise, incidents will never completely disappear. In paid media and earned media, the current situation is that companies are unable to fully control the environment in which their videos are published.
## The importance of avoiding damage to your brand and measures to prevent it
The impact of damage to your brand value is huge, and in an age where information is transmitted instantly around the world via the internet, the impact is not limited to the Japanese market.
In order to minimize the opportunity loss caused by damage to your brand safety, it is necessary to check and implement measures, particularly for video measures that have a significant impact, to prevent damage to your brand before it occurs.
In order to make the most of video, it is important to use paid media, earned media and owned media in a well-balanced way according to your objectives. For example, when it comes to video advertising, it is important to choose a method that allows you to carefully select the places where you advertise as much as possible. On social networking sites, it is necessary to create and operate a monitoring flow for the accounts you are managing and a response flow for when comments with risks are posted. If it is a company website, you need to consider how to effectively show videos that enhance your brand image.
Why not take this opportunity to review your company’s video strategy, considering brand safety on each medium?
