Brands Should Do More to Protect Their Image Online, Study Shows

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Summary

Brand safety is a hot topic in programmatic advertising, which is lauded for its efficient distribution but comes with big risks—particularly the unfiltered placement of digital ads next to negative content. New research offers empirical evidence of such risks, including damage to consumers’ perceptions, and calls for brands to do more to protect themselves.

Author bios:

Ross W. Johnson (ross.johnson@unt.edu) is an assistant professor at the University of North Texas. His research focuses on customer experience management, the marketing-finance interface, and how managers can responsibly leverage technology to best serve their customers.

Clay Voorhees (cmvoorhees@ua.edu) is a professor and Morris Mayer Endowed Teaching Excellence in Marketing at the University of Alabama. He is also part of the Center for Services Leadership (CSL) Global Faculty at the W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University. Voorhees’s research focuses on a range of marketing strategy topics, including digital marketing, customer experience management and relationship marketing.

Anoosh Khodakarami (fkhodakarami@sdsu.edu) is an assistant professor at San Diego State University. His research focuses on solving timely, real-world marketing challenges businesses face when building and strengthening relationships with customers in today’s digital economy.