Jess King on the importance of brand safety and tackling fake news

This week we sat down with our Senior Product Manager, Jess King, to talk about brand safety, tackling fake news and becoming a founding member of the BSI Editorial board.

Q: Hi, first of all, could you introduce yourself and tell a bit about what you do here at Unruly?

Hello! I’m Jess and I head up our Unruly Shield team at Unruly. Which basically means I am responsible for anything relating to trust and transparency.

Q: Can you talk a bit about how you found out about Unruly?

I was actually referred to Unruly by a previous colleague who put me in touch with Unruly’s CEO as a recommendation. Originally I was interested in a Publisher Manager role but was quickly swayed towards the idea of setting up the brand new Shield team at Unruly.

Q: What notable roles did you hold prior to Unruly?

Before Unruly, I was an Editor on a children’s magazine. Moshi Monsters, for anyone who remembers that!

Q: What draws you to the type of work you do?

I would say the biggest draw is that no day is ever the same. The ad tech industry, and particularly the arena of safety and trust, is evolving at a rapid pace and I love that I get to translate that into a roadmap for my team at Unruly.

Q: With trust being a huge talking point recently what does trust mean to you?

To me, it is very simple. Trust means honesty and transparency. If we can continue to be open and honest at Unruly in everything we do, then I think we will be on to something good.

Q: Tell us about something you’ve learned while working at Unruly?

Working at Unruly has taught me so much. The biggest thing I have learned about is the digital advertising industry and all of the amazing work that goes into it. I had never worked in this industry before and from the outside, it can seem quite scary, with a lot of cloak and dagger! However, Unruly could not be any more different! Everyone who works here is truly passionate about and committed to what we do, and I learn something new every day.

Q: Outside of Unruly are you a member of any industry groups (inc. advisory panels, training bodies etc)?

I was recently appointed as a founding member of the Brand Safety Institute (BSI) Editorial Board. This was set up by TAG, who are huge in the arena of safety, and has brought together industry leaders in this field to help design the curriculum for the BSI’s brand new accreditation program. It’s been pretty exciting!

Q: What are Unruly doing to tackle Fake News?

First and foremost, Unruly doesn’t allow any UGC into its network. This already gives us a massive head start as we are simply only working with premium, curated content, and not leaving room for error. Beyond this, our amazing BD team onboard sites individually into our network and each site goes through a vigorous vetting process, including a review from my team, so that we can spot any fake news before it even hits the exchange!

Q: How are Unruly building trust with their consumers?

Unruly places trust and transparency at the heart of everything it does. We encourage everyone we work with to truly lift the bonnet on their ad spend and work out exactly what is under there! To that end, we were one of the first businesses globally to adopt a Tier 1 TAG certification – this means that we allowed external auditors to come into our business and audit us against TAG’s fraud and brand safety principles. At the time, this was not a mandatory request from TAG, but we wanted to do it to demonstrate to consumers that we have a world class offering and nothing to hide.

Q: It’s the weekend: what do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to spend time with my friends/family and my lovely Mini Sproodle, Stella, our office mascot! Long walks in the park, the occasional training run for my yearly half marathon, and a few glasses of prosecco! If I’m really lucky, then we travel up to Newcastle to see all of my Northern friends & family (human and canine)!

Q: What makes you believe in the work you do at Unruly?

The people! Working at Unruly I am constantly surrounded by truly inspirational people, all striving to make this industry the absolutely best it can be.

Click here to hear from our SVP of Global Ad Ops, Hilary Goldsmith.