The Digital Trading Standards Group – made up of trade bodies including the AOP, ISBA, the IPA and the IAB – has launched a UK good practice guide aimed at minimising the risk of display advertising misplacement.
The UK Good Practice Principles set new industry-wide standards – including content verification tools and appropriate/inappropriate schedules – to interject ‘greater transparency’ into the digital display advertising market, as well as provide marketers with more control to help ensure that their advertising is less likely to be associated with inappropriate or illegal content.
The news follows heavy criticism of Facebook after the social media company refused to remove beheading videos. ISBA’s director of media and advertising, Bob Wootton, lambasted the social media platform for continuing to “antagonise advertisers by directly refusing to give them safe passage on their channel.”
Under the Principles, committed businesses will have their advertising misplacement policies and processes verified by an independent third party. In doing so, businesses will receive a ‘seal of compliance’ that advertisers and agencies look for when buying digital display advertising.
The Principles also supersede the IPA’s and ISBA’s own principles published earlier this year; businesses committed to the IPA-ISBA principles will be carried across to the DTSG’s initiative and their independent verifications will remain valid.
“The DTSG’s Good Practice Principles represent a major step forward for the whole industry to help minimise the risk of ad misplacement in a complex market,” said the IAB’s director of regulatory affairs, Nick Stringer.
“They will give marketers greater confidence to continue to invest in digital and the IAB encourages all relevant ad trading businesses to participate.”
The IPA’s head of digital, Nigel Gwilliam, added: “Misplaced advertising affects the whole online industry, so it is only right that we are addressing this from a cross-industry standpoint.
“These principles will increase the transparency, accountability, trust and safety that our advertisers and agencies so rightly deserve when placing ads online. Any business keen to demonstrate its responsibility and commitment to brand safety has nothing to lose by signing up to them, and everything to gain.”
