Lock it Down: How to Ensure Brand Safety Across Channel Partners

No more are the risks of social media more pronounced than for through-channel marketers. But safety means different things for different industries. No matter the vertical, there are three things that marketers can use to ensure brand safety: 

• Disclosure: Rules that require disclosure of license numbers, certifications, or financial/offer terms in all advertising.
• Targeting: Similar regulations also apply to how campaigns are targeted. For example, Real Estate campaigns can not target based on demographics or would otherwise be in violation of FHA guidelines, or for insurance campaigns, where agents are only licensed to sell within the bounds of a state. See Facebook Special Ad Categories for more information. 
• Variable rules: Requirements that vary by state/country/brand. 

In this article, we will present the three ways to guarantee compliance by demonstrating it through vertical examples.

Use Case #1 – Alcohol Industry

An emerging challenger brand sought to increase sales of its signature party drink while also helping drive traffic and sales for its retailers. However, alcohol brands face challenges when running ads for their products in the U.S. due to a 3-tiered structure, composed of brand, distributors, and retailers, and this structure’s associated legalities. Brands are prohibited from directly advertising specific retailers or from paying for their advertising. 

The brand needed a method to promote and drive retailer sales while still maintaining a level playing field in the marketplace. By leveraging Tiger Pistol’s platform, the beverage brand could run compliant hyper-local campaigns that would drive dynamic localization at scale and direct consumers to the brand’s store locator page or an alcohol delivery company that services the user’s area, making for a frictionless path to purchase. In this model, all ads run off of the corporate brand page, with locations defined as cities versus end locations. This method accounts for disclosure by not calling out a specific retail location. Rather, it allows the brand to direct customers to the best place for them to buy, all while supporting their local network of restaurants, bars, grocers, gas stations, or convenience stores. Using Tiger Pistol’s solution, the brand was able to account for targeting compliance with campaigns that were proximity-targeted and personalized to only reach consumers who were of the legal drinking age. Their campaigns also adhered to the variable rules affecting alcohol promotion at the state level. 

Use Case #2 – Real Estate 

Real estate marketing compliance does not have to be complicated when you know what you’re accounting for. Disclosure, real estate agents must disclose what brokerage they work for in their campaign. This can be done in a number of ways, but the easiest is probably to include this disclosure in the advertisement’s copy. For example, “I’m Shannon Austin and I work for Coldwell Banker. I am having an open house for 124 Loveland Lane on August 31st from 2-4pm. Masks required!” However, agents can choose to include a disclosure statement in their lead form instead. Another thing agents must consider when targeting audiences is the Federal Fair Housing Act guidelines to ensure agents’ ads are not discriminatory. Tiger Pistol’s platform offers automation controls that guarantee audience targeting is compliant with the FFHA. 

Use Case #3 – Insurance 

When marketing insurance services or products you must be extremely explicit in your copy or messaging about the coverage and/or services you’re offering and how much you are selling them for.  Adding a disclosure in your ad is crucial for Facebook marketing. Insurance marketers are only allowed to target audiences who are over the age of 18 and live within the state where the agent is licensed. Hyperlocal targeting is often essential, as targeting by DMA does not work in many cases. For example, the Chicago DMA stretches into Indiana and Wisconsin; and even the Charlotte DMA leaks into South Carolina. 

While these examples centered around regulations, brand governance/compliance should not be ignored, the average channel partner is an expert at running their business, not marketing. Brands struggle with the competing need to both retain brand-level control and consistency while ensuring that each individual location can achieve success. This is especially complicated when Facebook advertising enters the picture. Most locations have already created their own Facebook Business Page and want to drive ads directly from it to garner attention to their location. Your network of channel partners represent enormous opportunity for brand extension through social media channels, but risks like brand dilution and compliance make it challenging to relinquish local social advertising control. Tiger Pistol ensures your collaborative advertising™ campaigns are brand approved, yet perfectly tailored to effectively engage with community audiences.