Dentsu Is Investing in Brand Assurance and Streamlining the Team on a Global Level

In recent years Dentsu has made public commitments to DEI and equitable media buying. Now it's expanding its brand assurance group—a team that oversees brand safety, brand responsibility and brand suitability. With the expansion comes a promotion for Deva Bronson, who since February has led brand assurance for Dentsu Media in the U.S. Now, Bronson is evp, global head of brand assurance, taking on a global purview for Dentsu International. She'll continue leading brand assurance in the U.S., as well. A larger brand assurance team and Bronson's promotion align with Dentsu's other recent actions. It's in the midst of reorganizing and simplifying its offering and just last week it announced Dentsu Creative—the consolidation of its creative brands into a single entity. Formulating a global approach to brand assurance is another step Dentsu is taking to streamline its approach. With this development, Dentsu's global media agencies can take a consistent stance and look to one leader for guidance in the brand assurance space. "Our goal is to unite everyone under the Dentsu banner under a single go-forward mission. Really, to make sure that we're all aligned in protecting our clients as they are in the marketplace, and make sure that their campaigns are delivered in the most responsible way possible in each market and globally," Bronson told Adweek. Global brand assurance In the new role, Bronson will lead a new global steering committee, which will include practitioners across regions, major markets and global client leaders. She now reports to Cara Lewis, chief investment officer at Dentsu, and to Alastair Shearly-Saunders, global president, media and content investment at Dentsu International. "Deva has proven the value and benefit of this role with our media clients in the U.S. and is set to drastically shift the dial on key strategic brand assurance areas globally in her new position,” said Peter Huijboom, global CEO, media and global clients at Denstu International in a statement. Brand assurance encompasses a lot, though. Bronson will work closely with Dentsu's economic empowerment team and its lead, Mark Prince, to oversee the group's commitment to equitable media investments. She'll also work with Dentsu's privacy experts, develop the agency's plan for sustainability and monitor issues of ad fraud. The leader has observed an industry-wide concern around safety, suitability, fraud, protection, invalid traffic and more, she said. "As the world continues to change, clients' appetites or clients' thresholds for all of those standards need to be evaluated and reevaluated," she added. Steering brand safety Bronson's promotion will precede a new effort from Dentsu to create a cohesive global brand assurance offering. Currently, a team oversees this area in the U.S., and experts are interspersed across the global network. But now, a more organized offering will come together, guided by a yet-to-be-formed "steering committee" that will report to Bronson, when assembled. Eventually, Dentsu plans to have a community of 2,000 Dentsu experts delivering on the brand assurance team's goals globally. Another challenge Bronson will face as this process unfolds is uniting global media teams who might have different expectations for brand assurance. This is something Bronson will approach very carefully, she told Adweek. "We know there are vast differences in terms of legislation, in terms of rules, in terms of privacy and even diversity of thought around such issues," she said. 'Digital for Good' The brand assurance team expansion is part of the holding company's larger "Digital for Good" initiative. The network sets standards for its partners and is working through university partnerships to spread information about digital ethics to 100,000 young people. “To better address our clients’ needs, and ensure they are showing up in the right places, at the right time, and in the right context, we must provide always-on thinking in the brand assurance space, which is what this offering will do," added Huijboom. Kai Weidie Will Lead DEI for Dentsu Media Americas