Brand Safety requires practitioners to account for a wide variety of questions, such as: What story is your brand telling, and who tells it well? Where does it appear, and next to what? How is it being talked about in environments you don't control? Who's making the decisions that affect it? And what recourse do you have when they get it wrong? This issue has something useful for each.
Inside: a new Defend & Deliver episode on brand storytelling in the age of AI; a preview of our June 16 Marketer Roundtable with Zefr and MAGNA on AI-generated content adjacency; Dave Byrne on what agentic commerce means for your fraud and verification stack; brand narrative monitoring from CPM AI with a free trial for BSI member advertisers this summer; and a new transparency report from Appeals Centre Europe on how platforms handle content moderation appeals.
FEATURE Defend & Deliver: Donnovan Andrews on Brand Storytelling in the Age of AI
In the latest episode of BSI’s Defend & Deliver podcast, Louis Jones sits down with Donnovan Andrews — agency founder turned brand content entrepreneur — to talk about where the content industry is heading. The conversation covers AI's role in content creation and brand marketing, the rise of vertical micro dramas as a format brands can't afford to ignore, and what Donnovan calls the “great reassembly”: the consolidation and restructuring of media and advertising that will reshape how brands connect with consumers.
BSI Marketer Roundtable: AI Slop or Not? Workshop June 16, 11:30 am ET
Our next BSI Marketer Roundtable is dedicated entirely to AI-generated content and ad adjacency. Kara Manatt (EVP, Intelligence Solutions, MAGNA/Omnicom) and Sebastian Velez (VP, Research & Insights, Zefr) will walk through findings from their "AI Slop or Not?" research — including insights not available in the public report — followed by an open discussion on how marketers are approaching AI content adjacency across channels and content types.
Marketer Roundtable members should already have received an invitation for June 16 at 11:30 am ET. If you're a marketer and would like to attend, or if you can't make it but would still like to be connected with the Zefr team to learn more, email us.
When Bots Are Us: What Agentic Traffic Means for Advertisers
AI agents acting on real users' behalf — shopping, researching, transacting — look identical to sophisticated invalid traffic to your fraud stack. They are being blocked, and the conversion loss won't show up on your IVT report. Dave Byrne explains what that means for measurement and attribution, and what to ask your verification vendor about it right now. 👉 Read the article
FROM OUR MEMBERS
Tracking Brand Narratives Before They Become Headlines
Most brand monitoring focuses on where your ads appear. CPM AI focuses on where your brand narrative is heading — tracking how audiences talk and think about your brand across the open web and social, including in environments where you have no paid presence. The platform surfaces narrative shifts and emerging risk signals as they develop.
To show what that looks like in practice, CPM AI has published two sample reports — one on Coachella and one on the Super Bowl. BSI member advertisers can also sign up for a complimentary 4-week trial this summer, with cohorts starting June 17 and July 15. If you’d like to learn more, email us.
Appeals Centre Europe Releases Latest Transparency Report
Appeals Centre Europe is an independent out-of-court dispute settlement body certified under the EU's Digital Services Act, covering Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, and Pinterest. This week, they released their latest Transparency Report, revealing new insights about hate speech on social media. In 70% of the 1,400 cases where the Appeals Centre reviewed platforms' decisions to leave up content reported as hate speech, they disagreed with the platform.
The Appeals Centre offers brands and content creators a free, independent way to challenge platform decisions and help protect their livelihoods. If your organization is interested in working with the Appeals Centre, please email engagement@appealscentre.eu.
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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.
