Mediabrands creates new role to help establish digital advertising standards in APAC

Mediabrands APAC has appointed Harrison Boys to lead the development and implementation of digital advertising standards in the region as part of the network's global commitment to media responsibility.

Boys becomes director of standards and investment product, a new role focused on developing and maintaining long-term brand hygiene strategies, working closely with media partners to ensure that their product development roadmap is aligned with Mediabrands' standards strategy, and developing internal products that provide a more transparent view of media partners to clients.

Boys moves into the role from Mediabrands' global intelligence unit Magna, where for the past five years he has been responsible for delivering projects around brand safety, ad fraud, media responsibility, conducting media partner assessments, and developing investment products for the EMEA region.

He was the author of the 2021 Dis/Misinformation Challenge for Marketers research study report, which explored how brands can navigate the accelerating amount of inaccurate and misleading content appearing across online news outlets and social media platforms.

“The topics areas Harrison specialises in have become increasingly important to clients, agencies, and the wider industry” said Raja Kanniappan, chief financial officer Mediabrands APAC. “Harrison’s objectives for the region will be to implement strategy and education on media standards, increase alignment and capabilities for assessing our media partners, and working with existing teams to advance our investment product.” 

Boys will be based in his native New Zealand and his appointment is effective immediately. He will report to Kanniappan. He said: “I am excited to be working back home in the Asia-Pacific region. Working in such a diverse region is an exciting prospect as it offers significant opportunities to contribute to the sustainability of the online ecosystem.”

Mediabrands APAC CEO Leigh Terry said Boys appointment forms part of a focus on "investing in specialised talent within our region to provide a central and consistent focus to progress the health and sustainability of our industry, in addition to working with clients and platforms to share best practices around upholding suitability standards for advertisers."

Mediabrands released its first media responsibility audit of social media platforms in August 2020 which it followed up in February 2021.

It also shared its 10 Media Responsibility Principles (MRP) in June 2020, intended to be a call to action for companies to hold themselves to higher standards when it relates to brand safety and brand responsibility matters.