Ad adjacency — or more specifically, an ad's placement, or misplacement, next to unsafe content — is advertising appearing next to or in front of content the marketer deems inappropriate for their brand. The same holds true for publishers where the adjacency of ads that are not brand safe on their pages can find their reputations damaged.

Brand suitability is about what impacts a brand’s reputation, which by its nature is subjective. There are categories of content that while generally considered “safe” for advertising, an individual a marketer may deem inappropriate for their campaign. 

Tips, Tools, and Resources

No matter your role in the digital advertising industry, the Brand Safety Institute can help you understand how to create, maintain, and leverage brand safe environments.

Brands & Agencies

It’s important for companies to understand their own preferences around the placement of ads. And they need to be able to clearly communicate their expectations to the partners they work with.

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Publishers, Platforms & Solution Providers

Adjacency of ads that are not brand safe can cause reputational damage for media sellers as well as media buyers.

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Adjacency and Brand Suitability News

Learn from The Experts

The Role of the Brand Safety Officer

A.J. Brown, manager of brand safety and monetization at Twitter, talks about the challenge of dealing with ad adjacency, the use of frameworks to help with that challenge, and the differences when it comes to ad adjacency on social media.

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TRUSTX and the Brand Safety Community

Terri Walter and David Kohl of TRUSTX tell you what you need to know about your partners--and how difficult that can be in programmatic buying--and why that can be a big help when it comes to preventing adjacency issues.

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Standards and Procedures Across the Brand Safety Ecosystem

Ron Pinelli and George Ivie of the Media Rating Council talk about the role of standards and procedures in digital advertising, and how to use those standards to keep brands safe from adjacency issues.

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