TAG Today - September 2023

• NEW ADDITIONS: Working Group Co-Chairs
• MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Magna IPG Mediabrands - Erika Foster
• SAVE YOUR SEAT: State of the Fight
• One More Thing

Top Industry Leaders in Fraud & Brand Safety Bring Expertise to TAG Working Groups as New Co-Chairs

TAG is delighted to welcome four new Co-Chairs for the Anti-Fraud Working Group (AFWG) and Brand Safety Working Group (BSWG) who will help lead those working groups’ efforts to evaluate best practices, update TAG certification standards, share intelligence about emerging issues and threats, and create networking opportunities with industry peers.

Stepping into new Co-Chair roles on the BSWG are David Byrne, Director of Global Advertising Platform Integrity for Spotify Advertising, and Allie Wootton, Anti-Piracy Group Lead, Advertising and Payment Strategy for Sky. 

They will join current BSWG Co-Chairs Abe Farraj, Senior Director, Brand Safety for NBCUniversal, and Alex Thomas, Brand Safety and Responsible Investment Director for GroupM, as the BSWG tackles issues ranging from the current content taxonomy to actionable steps to evolve and enhance the TAG guidelines and tools.

“We are delighted to have this group of brand safety leaders co-chairing the BSWG and helping TAG address the fast-moving challenges in brand safety and piracy,” said Adrian Lacey, Director of Policy and Standards for TAG. “Their expertise spans the breadth of brand safety-related issues, while bringing the perspectives of major brands, publishers, and agencies to the table for the benefit of all TAG members.”

On the anti-fraud front, Jessica Penny, Senior Brand Manager – Brand Assurance for Dentsu, and Azma Gohar, Senior Director, Compliance for Index Exchange, joined the AFWG as Co-Chairs. They will work with current co-chair John Alleva of NBCUniversal as the AFWG reviews TAG’s IVT Taxonomy, explores the challenges of fraud prevention in the emerging gaming and audio spaces, and updates TAG’s Anti-Fraud Guidelines for the coming year.

“Jessica and Azma are fantastic additions to the AFWG leadership group, as they bring both agency and programmatic experience to the collaborative efforts of the AFWG,” said Bonnie Niederstrasser, Director of Policy and Programs for TAG. “With their leadership, the AFWG will chart a path to maintain consistent, low, and predictable fraud rates across both traditional and emerging channels like CVT, gaming, and audio.”

TAG Launches “Member Spotlight” Season with MAGNA Global’s Erika Foster

TAG’s success is driven by the support and engagement of its 700+ member companies, and over the next three months, TAG will be turning the attention to the leaders in those companies through a series of “Member Spotlight” videos.

In the first interview of the series, TAG’s Marketing and Communications Director. Vanessa Goff-Yu, welcomes Erika Foster, Director, Standards & Investment Products EMEA for MAGNA Global, part of the IPG Mediabrands family. Their wide-ranging conversation covers the brand safety requirements of major advertisers, the importance of TAG Platinum status to the agency, and working out to Justin Bieber. Watch their full conversation here.

Reserve Your Ringside Seats for TAG’s “State of the Fight” on October 18!

TAG’s annual “State of the Fight” briefing is coming up on October 18, so be sure to RSVP to make sure you get the industry’s best intelligence on emerging threats and challenges, progress made across TAG initiatives, and plans for the future!

This year’s agenda includes the challenges of ad fraud measurement, evolving tactics to keep ahead of supply chain criminals, and the Holy Grail of transparency in buying. RSVP today by emailing us at info@tagtoday.net or click on the RSVP button below.

Leverage TAG Research into Your Everyday!

From APAC Fraud Snapshot reports, to UK Brand Safety Consumer reports, to Best Practices whitepapers, TAG's research is here to support our member's day-to-day compliance as well as strategic planning. 

Visit our Data and Insight page 👉 tagtoday.net/insights

Let's Make Some Noise Together 🤝

We love it when TAG members highlight our work together to fight digital ad crime and improve transparency. Please send any TAG-related press releases, blogs, or other announcements to Andrew Weinstein at andrewwstn@gmail.com for review before release.