Brands must be careful not to unwittingly “take sides” in today’s divisive political landscape as a result of lax media controls, according to RBS chief marketing officer David Wheldon.
World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) president Wheldon yesterday (25 Apruil) issued his ‘State of the Union’ address at the organisation’s annual Global Marketer Week, taking place in Toronto, Canada.
The former Barclays and Vodafone marketer urged attendees to be “laser focused” on five “key areas” to ensure their brands can continue to thrive. These include brand safety, measurement, agency relationships, marketing creativity and putting consumers “first’.
On the subject of brand safety, and following recent controversies impacting YouTube, Wheldon said marketers must know “where [their] budget is going”.
“We live in a world of populist, partisan politics, fake news and alternative facts. That’s not an easy place for brands. If marketers want to select just one aspect of programmatic to understand, then brand safety should be it,” he said.
“Brand safety means not only ensuring that your ad isn’t a pre-roll to a jihadi video but also that you are not centre-stage on divisive content in a way that makes it appear as if you are taking sides. Social media can be the easiest place to lose friends if you aren’t careful.”
“Today too many brands are churning out content to the detriment of creativity. The pity is that it doesn’t have to be that way”
In the wake of last year’s Association of National Advertisers’ report into rebates, and Procter & Gamble marketer Marc Pritchard’s call-to-arms on media transparency, Wheldon said the “salami-slicing” of programmatic budgets needed to become “less opaque”.
He also argued that CMOs should be wary of investing in technology at the expense of creative excellence: “For all the technology at our disposal us today, there’s no substitute for creativity. The great campaigns of the past worked – not because the environment was less competitive – but because they were truly creative.
“Today too many brands are churning out content to the detriment of creativity. The pity is that it doesn’t have to be that way. There are more smart people in our industry than ever before. There are lots of great professionals who can make meaningful connections with people in almost every agency and brand.
“The much-touted promise for our industry was that targeting would enable brands to reach people in a timely, relevant and welcome fashion. Instead, we are annoying people,” he added.
Wheldon concluded his speech with a plea for brands to “keep things simple”. If this is achieved, he said, there has “never been a better time” to be an international marketer.
