In brand safety and suitability, the source of content has become as important as the content itself. Keyword filters and contextual classifiers can tell you what a piece of content is about. They can't tell you who made it, what they stand for, or whether their values align with yours.
That gap is where the next wave of brand safety work is happening, and the BSI Newsletter digs into what this looks like in practice.
FEATURE Building Pre-Publish Shield
Pre-Publish Shield is a new tool BSI is building to address a problem the industry has been talking around for years: by the time a brand safety incident surfaces publicly, the damage is already done. Apologies, pulled campaigns, severed partnerships, the cycle is familiar and expensive. The creators, agencies, and brands involved often saw the risk coming but lacked a practical way to flag it before publication.
Pre-Publish Shield is designed to catch content risk earlier in the workflow, before something goes live and becomes a headline. It's built for the people actually making and approving content, not just the teams cleaning up after it. The goal is to protect the trust that makes the creator economy work in the first place, the same trust that 69% of consumers extend to creators and that takes years to build and minutes to lose.
We're in active development and looking for creators, agencies, and brand-side teams to help us test it and shape what it becomes. If you've ever wished you'd had a second set of eyes before hitting publish, we'd like to talk.
In the Age of AI, Who Creates Content Matters More
The presence of AI in a workflow is becoming a less useful signal on its own. What matters is the human behind the content: their intent, their values, and whether their full body of work aligns with your brand. A practical framework for evaluating creators, with five questions every brand should be asking before they place an ad or sign a partnership. 👉 Read the article
News Advertising is Brand Safe, Even in War Time
The instinct to avoid news during crises is understandable, however the data says it's costly. News environments drive higher engagement and attention than many "safer" alternatives, and avoiding them often pushes spend into made-for-advertising sites that deliver less value. A look at why the legacy assumptions about news adjacency haven't aged well. 👉 Read the article
Creator Suitability: Partnering Responsibly at Scale
Creator partnerships are no longer experimental. They're a core growth channel, and as they scale, suitability and alignment matter more than ever. Francis Stones, TikTok's Global Head of Brand Safety & Responsible Media, on how brands can partner with creators in ways that protect trust, enable creativity, and scale with confidence. 👉 Read the full report
BY THE NUMBERS The Trust Premium
A few data points worth keeping close as you build creator strategy:
69% of consumers trust what creators say and recommend; among Gen Z, that figure climbs to 94%.
61% of brands now report higher ROI from micro-influencers than from macro-influencers.
72% of consumers believe brands should be held accountable for the influencer partnerships they establish.
83% of advertisers believe creators' brand safety and suitability knowledge is moderate at best, a knowledge gap, not a values gap.
The takeaway: trust is the asset and it's distributed unevenly. Smaller creators with engaged audiences increasingly outperform larger ones with passive followings, and the brands investing in creator vetting earlier in the process are the ones least likely to be surprised later.
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Thanks for being part of the BSI community, the advertising industry's community of practice for brand and people safety. We look forward to bringing you more insights, updates, and industry news next month.
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