Brands are avoiding “coronavirus”-related keywords like they’re the actual coronavirus. And in times like these, it’s up to the buy side to start an open conversation about brand safety tolerance, said GroupM executive Oscar Garza.
“It’s understandable some brands don’t want to be associated with tragedy, but at the same time, news is news,” he said. “News and media need to be supported, especially in times like this.”
Oscar, holed up at home in San Francisco with his two sons, 5 and 3 years old, his wife and his mother-in-law, is helping brands understand the impact of keyword blocking and pausing ad spend altogether, while taking the occasional break to make omelets with his oldest son, Oscar IV. His mother-in-law was an early childhood educator, taking some of the pain of homeschooling out of the equation.
Also in this episode: Oscar introduces us to “Hard West,” a video game out of an indie Polish studio where he passes the time hunting witches and demons in an Old West setting.
