RBS CMO: Transparency and brand safety remain top concerns

Speaking at the asi International Television & Video Conference in Nice, WFA president and RBS CMO, David Wheldon, said that it was transparency and brand safety that (by a distance) most concerned the WFA’s members – who make up 91% of the world’s advertising spend.

He admitted that it had been a struggle getting members’ agreement to release the WFA report into brand safety – mainly because the situation reflected poorly on CMOs too, he agreed. But even after its release nothing happened initially.

“Only when the Times published its front page editorials did Google do anything, and I give them credit for doing things since; I give Facebook no credit. They did nothing.”

With regard to metrics and an over-reliance on the duopoly despite them marking their own homework, Wheldon was equally candid. “Some of the metrics are laughable, it’s a massive concern and a mystery how the broader eco-system can get away with it for so long.”

Yet most of the blame was with the advertisers, he said, schmoozed on trips to the West Coast and adopting the shiny and new whatever; but he also felt marketers were no longer supported by their agencies in ways they had been a few years ago.

Wheldon confirmed that he did still firmly believe in brand building – “at RBS we have long term metrics around this, but we have short-term metrics too.”

He said he was positive about the likely impact of GDPR.