This article was created in partnership with Human
Preventing online fraud is not just about protecting brands and their customers. According to Geoff Stupay, vice president of media strategy at cybersecurity firm Human, defeating bad actors can maximize spend, minimize waste and optimize results for digital advertisers.
But as content and crime increase “exponentially” online, marketers themselves must take the lead in detecting and combatting fraud, Stupay told an audience of brand executives during a panel hosted by ADWEEK Editor-in-Chief Alison Weissbrot in New York this month.
To continue driving value without losing ground to fraudsters, brands need to change the way they target consumers online, said panelist Vishal Kumar, senior director of market quality for the shopping platform of The Trade Desk advertisements.
“Online sales are breaking records, which means consumers are also bombarded with even more ads,” he said. “It will be vital for brands to establish a much more meaningful connection with their audiences. And the best way to do this is to invest in transparent, high-quality inventory. Connected TV advertising, Kumar told the audience, offers a classic example of how to do this.
“It’s a perfect environment for brands to both share compelling stories and measure their performance,” he said.
Panelist Cidney Falk, business development manager for LinkedIn’s Advertiser Trust program, said the risk of wasted spending alone should motivate marketers to be aggressive about fraud.
“How much do you think marketers know or care about fraud protection, and how can we get them more involved? » said Falk. “It comes down to wasted impressions, wasted budgets on eyeballs that aren’t real, and marketers not achieving the results they are trying to achieve. »
LinkedIn, for example, “will be investing significantly more in CTV over the coming year,” Falk said at the meeting. “Making sure we can create more transparency and controls for our advertisers in certain areas will be extremely important to us. At the same time, “take a holistic approach,” she advised the audience. “Don’t rely solely on what third parties can provide. Establishing best practices and operational goals internally is essential to success.
An ever-growing ecosystem of channels, platforms, and funnels all bring “their unique threat vectors and opportunities for fraudsters to take advantage of,” Stupay of Human noted. “It’s not enough to look at the big picture. You have to kind of dig deep into your own personal strategy, or your business strategy, and ask yourself: How are we going to drive traffic? How do we play in this ecosystem? So where are the vulnerabilities?
Panelists shared strategies for stamping out fraud before it spreads. “Know your customer,” said Kumal of The Trade Desk. “What are the processes behind, for example, validating their ability to actually do business with you in the first place? Some of the fraud begins simply with someone being able to access land.
At Human, “we take each type of contract, look at it very carefully and check how these people fit into the ecosystem and what their reputation is before we even decide to do business with them,” Stupay said. Human also publicizes large-scale threats “and makes them public so that everyone knows about things that can happen.” Education and awareness are essential.
Ultimately, collaboration is key to fighting fraud, the panelists agreed. “On LinkedIn’s side, we can’t do much without our third-party partners and with organizations like TAG (Trustworthy Accountability Group) or the MRC (Media Rating Council) and the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), to ensure a standardization in all areas. the board of directors. So I think collaboration is absolutely vital,” Falk said.
All marketers should do a “self-inventory” to identify potential weak links, Human’s Stupay said. “Ask, ‘How can I drive traffic?’ What do I use? What are my different channels? And then digging deeper into that, “Do I have protection for each of these use cases that I’m using?” » Because not everything is created equal. There are different threats in each type of vertical you use. Make sure you have a trusted partner who can tackle all of these issues on your behalf.
