Following P&G’s call to clean up the murky supply chain and The Times exposé on brand safety, RadiumOne has become the first adtech business to launch a division dedicated to improving online brand safety, tackling fraud and increasing transparency.
It marks another step in the adtech industry’s effort to address these issues, following the update from cross-industry body JICWEBS – that produces good practice guidelines for online ad trading – about the rise in adtech co’s applying to undergo certification for brand safety and fraud.
The new RadiumOne Safety Division will focus on educating clients, supplier relationships, improving best practice around white- and black- inventory lists and exploring new innovation opportunities in tackling online brand safety, ad fraud and transparency.
The Safety Division contains a team of five and will be run by Timmy Bankole, currently Head of Supply Operations, who will report into Director of Operations, Mark Cooper.
RadiumOne was the first company in the UK to achieve JICWEBS’s Anti-Ad Fraud certification and one of the first to receive its Brand Safety certification through the body’s Digital Trading Standards Group.
“There’s been a justifiable increase in the clamour to clean up the online advertising supply chain and with our credentials on tackling these issues we felt it was important to lead from the front and set a precedent for the rest of the industry,” said Craig Tuck, RadiumOne’s UK MD.
“Having a dedicated division is testament to the level of effort and expertise required to properly address these issues and protect all of our clients’ investment in digital advertising, which goes way beyond token gestures and the endless talk.”
RadiumOne’s move follows that of Group M who created a new role – executive vice president, brand safety, Group M Global – in July 2016, specifically to target these issues, appointing John Montgomery.