Putting (Brand) Safety First

At Cisco, we pride ourselves on our strong, clear and inclusive brand values. It’s the reason we have one of the most loyal customer communities. And it’s why the value of our brand continues to rise on the Interbrand Top 100 Global Brands list, this year hitting almost $32B in value and #16 in the world.

This is also why Cisco has adopted the most rigorous industry standards to help ensure our online advertising does not accidentally end up in the wrong place, such as on a streaming video with sensitive content or a site that does not align with the values of our brand.

As the CMO of one of the top digital marketing organizations in the world, I would be the first to say that technology has transformed the marketing industry for good – and at an ever-increasing pace. Through data and algorithms employed by media platforms, we are able to be more targeted and real-time with our online advertising. We can see our customers as they engage in real time with Cisco, allowing us to provide an amazing personalized experience.

But that speed of change works in both directions. Sensitive issues in the media do sometimes spread faster than the media platforms’ algorithms can update, leading to what can be a brand-tarnishing experience described above. Similarly, some content platforms are not properly monitoring and categorizing the content on their sites as it is posted.

Enforcing the strictest of standards

At Cisco, we would rather not wait for something bad to happen. We are working closely with all of our media partners to ensure that Cisco’s online advertising meets our stringent standards. We only advertise where those standards are met and where we can ensure inappropriate content is not shared.

Educating and training

Our marketers and media agencies are armed with the necessary resources and training to help prevent anything unexpected from happening. We are also working to educate our partners. We are so lucky that we have over 62,000 partners that advertise on Cisco’s behalf. We are making sure they are aware of our strict standards when they represent the Cisco brand in their advertising.

As Cisco employees, we also have a responsibility to continue to safeguard the Cisco brand. Thank you so much for your efforts so far in representing this great company to the world. As your Cisco marketers, we promise to continue to protect our brand as we pioneer new ways of online advertising and hold the media platforms accountable for change.

If you are an employee and you’d like to learn more about our brand safety guidelines, visit our internal Brand Jive Page here. If you believe the Cisco brand is being compromised or put at risk, please email brand-safety@cisco.com.

Note: Blog updated May 10,2018