Advertisers need to reassess funding media that bullies: Dentsu’s Ben Shepherd
Advertisers are soon going to have to reassess their role in funding certain sections of the media, following the alleged bullying of Brittany Higgins, according to Dentsu’s chief investment officer, Ben Shepherd.
Media attention on Higgins has ramped back up in recent weeks, which Shepherd said poses the question for advertisers to consider their role in funding, and enabling “this sort of bullying”, referenced in two examples of the coverage.
The screenshot displays an ad for Headspace with the text ‘let’s talk bullying’
Shepherd originally wrote on his LinkedIn: “The media bullying of Higgins is getting to a point advertisers are going to need to reassess their role in funding and enabling this sort of bullying. Horrible stuff.”
The media Shepherd references are articles on Higgins from The Daily Mail, and controversial columnist at News Corp Australia publication The Herald Sun, Andrew Bolt.
When approached by Mumbrella to expand on the topic, and if Dentsu is considering a change in its media investment across different companies, Shepherd said: “My LinkedIn post was designed to spark a discussion within the marketing industry around advertising being placed alongside content that may not be aligned with the advertiser’s values around the treatment of others. All publications reserve the right to commission and publish content that services their audiences, but there should be a mechanism to turn off ads online against complicated, potentially controversial content to avoid a brand’s reputation being pulled into question.
Shepherd joined Dentsu at the end of 2022 as chief investment officer from Bain & Company
“Brand marketers are always concerned about brand safety and reputation and even individual articles may hurt this, and as a media agency we are thinking everyday where we place their brands. Tools and considered approaches that can help us reduce risk for our brand partners while supporting Australian news media outlets are critical.”
“We are not saying these articles are representative of a publication overall, but rather reflect selective columnists. Brand marketers and their agency partners deserve the ability to choose what they market their products against, just like news publications have the complete freedom, rightfully, to choose what they write about and publish.”
Mumbrella understands there will be no change to Dentsu investment in specific media companies at present.
To hear the team talk about this story in more detail, listen to this week’s Mumbrellacast. (Ben Shepherd’s call to advertisers – 6:22)
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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About the hypocritical nature of those in our industry pontificating about the media as if they’re not part of it.
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Im sure the CCO will now be cleaning up the mess – like she always does.
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If you don’t like what your company is doing to such a degree you need to post about it and you have such a senior position – shouldn’t you leave??
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No more free lunches for you
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A mechanism does exist…its called keyword exclusions.
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It’s ok to have opinions that don’t align with your corporate overlords. Better voice them than remain silent and influence no one for the better.
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So in other words, as the Chief Investment Officer, he’s happy to put his clients money where the eyeballs are. Regardless of what he says on LinkedIn.
Another cowardly example of industry virtue signalling. Either lead the way or stay out of the way.
[edited under Mumbrella’s editorial guidelines]
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Or dentsu for that matter
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It sparked a conversation though!
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A world where media/marketing people become the moral arbitrators of anything is not something I want to be a part of.
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I wonder what the annual value of Dentsu’s investment into News Corp published titles on behalf of Woolworths is?
I wonder if Woolworths share Ben’s political views.
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Classic virtue signalling. Very poor behaviour from a C-suite that should be leading by example!
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I have to admit I am disappointed by this. You either have courage or you don’t. This feels like saying the right thing without doing the right thing.
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Would any publisher really notice if Dentsu pulled their media investment?
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I wonder how long this one is going to last before it starts rubbing people the wrong way?
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nope – the CCO left too
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I am guessing about 55% of total media spend
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Ben joined Denstu after a brief period at Bain & Co – not the other place you mentioned.
The bigger bullies, the one doing the real harm to kids are Meta (facebook and insta), not lil ol news ltd with its silly right wing shock jocks.
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Think this will be sparking more than one conversation back at HQ
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If their affiliates pulled their money then perhaps they would but not Dentsu client money
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