Brand Safety is Human Safety
It starts with a simple truth: what we place, we endorse.
A woman scrolls through her feed. Between a recipe and a reel, she sees an ad. It’s cheerful, upbeat, on message. But besides it, a headline brimming with hate. A thread dripping with division. The brand meant to empower her is now complicit in a moment that undermines her. It didn’t mean to be there. But it is.
That’s what brand safety really is. Not just an algorithmic filter or a keyword blocklist. It’s a conscious choice to show up in the right way, in the right place, for the right reasons.
At Innovation Leo Burnett, part of the Publicis Groupe, we bring strategy and storytelling, data and design, together from the first spark of an idea to the final pixel of execution. It’s how we ensure our clients don’t just appear, they appear with purpose
When KIABI stood up for body positivity, the backlash was swift. Trolls, slurs, and waves of comment-section cruelty. We could have pulled back. Instead, we leaned in. The Starcom team tightened controls, refined targeting, and monitored content in real time. Our creatives doubled down more inclusive faces, more powerful stories, more truth. Because when a brand claims to stand for something, moments like this reveal if it really does.
We believe brand safety starts with people. It’s about understanding context: emotional, cultural, human. No tool alone can do that. So, we put humans at the heart of the process. Strategists who read subtext. Creatives who hear nuance. Media teams who know when not to place.
A teenager seeing herself reflected for the first time in a campaign. A father reading the news while his child watches YouTube beside him. A community grieving, scrolling, searching for reassurance and finding your brand standing by something real. These are not impressions. They’re moments. And moments make brands.
That’s why we hold our platforms, publishers, and partners to high standards. Alignment isn’t a request, it’s a requirement. We step away from spaces that don’t reflect the values of the brands we serve. And we believe brands shouldn’t just follow the conversation around brand safety, as if it’s rooted in fear. It’s rooted in care.
Care for the people who see our work. Care for the ideas we put into the world. Care for the trust we’re given and the responsibility that comes with it.
So no, brand safety isn’t just about brand protection. It’s about people protection.
And we protect people the way we build brands: intentionally, collaboratively, and with conviction.
Because the question isn’t just “Will we be seen?” It’s “What will we stand for when we are?”
And that’s not a media decision. That’s a human one.
