Oxford Road's Guide to Brand Safety

By Dan Granger

One of your first jobs as a marketer is to follow the marketer’s version of the Hippocratic oath–to do no harm to your brand. But your other job is to grow, and these directives can easily come into conflict. Advertising on politically-oriented shows or leveraging hosts with strong followings can be a way to capture attention in a crowded space. But that also exposes your brand to the controversies that the hosts and their guests can create.

You don’t have to look far back to have an example of how these controversies go for advertisers. Here’s what you’re likely to expect.

First, the host or guest says something controversial that a specific group wants to call out.

Next, you would receive an email—from a seemingly credible media outlet, blog, or group—seeking comment about your intention to continue your existing relationship with the program. Oftentimes, there’s a deadline for you to make a comment before your brand name is released on a list. That list will be used by a constituency who will contact you and others at your company—accusing you of supporting the beliefs of the offending party.

Usually, the host’s words are taken somewhat out of context, but it doesn’t matter because the optics are bad and you wish they had made their point differently. You are tempted to respond to the email. However, real customers are rarely involved. Usually you will start to receive pressure from within your company. Questions start flying at you about why you would ever consider affiliating your brand with programs that so clearly do not represent the values your company represents. All the pressure to hit growth and CAC goals are out the window and now you must respond—or so it seems. All of this has happened in a matter of hours. It is at this precise moment that you must ignore your impulses to act and take a moment to pause amidst the immense amount of pressure and judgment surrounding you.

Instead of following your emotions…

Here’s what you need to do:

• Address Internal Stakeholders – In a timely and considered way, assure all stakeholders that you appreciate the gravity of the situation and your commitment to taking proper action. Affirm your commitment to company values and get buy-in from anxious team members who will be tempted to speak publicly before an appropriate response can be considered.
• Say Nothing Publicly – No matter how tempting it might be, don’t even acknowledge the email or call you receive from watchdog organizations or any media outlet that contacts you. Anything you say publicly can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion. This is true for both the third parties that are pressuring you to make a statement or take an action, as well as the fans of the personality that caused the offense. You will feel like you owe them a response or statement and they know it. You do not. In fact, there is no long-term benefit in issuing a fast response. This is perceived but not real. Immediately following your awareness of the perceived offensive comment, do and say NOTHING. Speaking out will invite unwanted exposure and potential backlash.
• Immediately “Pause” Your Media Investment – You have to watch, listen or read the content that caused the controversy in full. To do that, you need time. You have facts to gather and context to consider. To do this objectively, you will want to contact your media agency or the program or network immediately. Assure them that you are making no immediate decisions and issuing no public statements. Provide the media partner a minimum timetable for suspension of your campaign. 2-4 weeks is an appropriate amount of time for a proper evaluation.
• Gather Facts and Think Deeply – You have protected yourself from continued exposure and assured your stakeholders that you will properly evaluate. So now is the time for due diligence. Imagine if someone had walked into your office and attributed the soundbite in question to one of your team members or key vendors. You should handle this situation similarly. To do that, you need to hear from people representing both sides of the issue and see how it is affecting them. Listen deeply to how the words may have been hurtful to people on your team. If your customers have been impacted, hear their stories. Maybe the person who gave offense holds views that represent the unspoken values of other stakeholders who do not share those values publicly. Consider them too. Examine their channel’s impact on your business. Consider the cost of a permanent severance from the relationship and what the consequence would be to the people who work with you if you cut off this stream of revenue. Talk to others who have navigated these waters in the past and learn from their successes and failures. You must not simply react to the vocal minority, you need to consider every side of the issue.
• Lay Out All Your Options – It’s easy to forget that you have many options beyond stay or go. Once you’ve taken in all of the information, decide if the perceived offense deserves action. If so, your options include:
• Withdraw Sponsorship until Further Notice: There is no rule that says you must close the door permanently. You can, however, decide that you don’t see an immediate path to the reinstatement of your campaign and take appropriate action. Again, quietly is best.
• Terminate the Relationship Permanently: If you have weighed the offense and believe that your company mission calls you to take a side and have weighed the costs associated with permanent separation, notify the necessary stakeholders. Avoid emotional responses and stay matter of fact, leaning on the incongruity of your values with a continued relationship with the individual in question. This is the most extreme action and should only be considered in the most extreme circumstances.
• Return Immediately: If you believe the controversy was taken out of context or that the personality did nothing out of step with your company values, you can go back right away. Again, no public statement about this will benefit you.
• Wait it Out: If you don’t believe the offense was worthy of any action one way or another, let the news cycle pass—anywhere from 24 hours to one week—then continue as planned per your “Pause.”
• Offer a Probationary Relationship: You have the right to not take any further action beyond your temporary withdrawal. However, if you do believe that the offense was a violation of your values or unnecessarily harmful but that they can be let off with a warning, then tell them so. Talk to the personality directly or at least alert the executive team that represents them that future instances of this nature may result in permanent separation. You can even request they consider some measure of goodwill or action to demonstrate a willingness to consider the feelings of those they have hurt, even if they disagree on a core issue. Typically these hurt feelings are the result of the way something was communicated, not necessarily the position held by either party.
• Pick up the Bat Phone: What if you may have trouble getting out of a contract? What if your stakeholders are divided on what to do? What if the offending channel drives a high volume of sales and there is ambiguity around the nature of the offense. When the stakes are high and you need a professional to see you through, contact the Cambridge Negotiation Institute.

6. DECIDE – This may be less obvious than it seems. In almost every instance where separation occurs between the brand and talent in a relationship, it is done under compulsion from a third party. The reality is, this third party is not responsible for your goals or your mission as a brand. It would be a shame if you were to take an action that is too fast or too permanent all because you were bullied into doing so—yet this is often the path that brands choose. We all want to save face. But when you rush to judgment, you turn over your authority to less invested third parties who are operating with different motives than your own. This is your business, not theirs. Don’t let them tell you who you will do business with or how you go about finding new customers or sharing your values with the world. This is your decision, so take time and then decide for yourself.

Additionally, last year we began working with a company called Barometer to build a tool in order to proactively get ahead of this type of scenario. Powered by AI, Barometer is able to apply a Brand Safety & Suitability score by rating each episode and show using the GARM framework in order to determine the risk level of content. By looking through a host or shows track record you, as a brand marketer, are able to determine if the content they put out is consistent with your brand values and if it’s something you can feel confident sponsoring based on their track record.

As a brand marketer you don’t have hundred of hours in the day to listen to new shows you’re looking to test or to track episodes released by the hosts you’re currently choosing to sponsor. Barometer does this for you, all you have to do is sign up for an account and assign risk levels (no, low, medium, high) you are comfortable with across the 12 Risk adjacent elements GARM warns against. In a matter of second you have full transparency into the content of the show, can see potential issues flagged, and are able to make a data-backed decision as to whether or not you feel confident investing your brand dollars in a show.

One final thought. Most people will not follow the advice provided here and it will cost them a lot of money. But no amount of money is worth feeling like you’ve sold your soul and caved on your convictions. You have to make a choice that helps you sleep at night. There is a better path that no one ever considers—proactively work on the relationship with the offending talent. The reason you found yourself in this predicament is that you leveraged the influence of an influencer. The most powerful asset in the world of marketing is tapping into the trust that flows between a media Influencer and their tribe. The moment you terminate that relationship, you have reduced your own influence with that tribe as well as their leader. 

We have enough polarization in this country. There is enough judgment on both sides. You have the power to proactively drive positive change and use these moments of controversy to unite people and expand the influence of your values—if you would only take a different approach.

Go forth and spend your influence wisely.

Contact Us

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For more information on Barometer, please visit thebarometer.co

For additional resources on this topic, please see The Influencer’s previous articles addressing different aspects of this topic, including, A HOUSE DIVIDED WILL NOT BRAND and DON’T BECOME A VICTIM OF THE “OTHER” TRADE WAR. 

Our position on doing our part to heal the divide in this country through our approach to marketing has also garnered some media attention, including, THE WILKOW MAJORITY on SiriusXM, Business Radio by The Wharton School and Closer Look with Rose Scott on NPR.