Nerd Alert: Brands in Unsafe Places

Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We're breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.In this episode, Elena and Rob explore how ads appearing next to offensive or harmful content can quietly erode consumer trust, and what marketers should do when it happens.Topics covered:[00:45] "Brands in Unsafe Places: Effects of Brand Safety Incidents on Brand Outcomes"[02:00] What counts as a brand safety incident?[04:00] How quickly does brand damage spread?[05:00] Which brands are most at risk?[06:00] Unsafe content versus negative content: there's a difference[07:00] How to respond when an incident occursTo learn more, visit marketingarchitects.com/podcastResources: Grewal, L. S., Vana, P., & Stephen, A. T. (2025). Brands in unsafe places: Effects of brand safety incidents on brand outcomes. JMR, Journal of Marketing Research, 62(6), 981–1002. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437251349522Get more research-backed marketing strategies by subscribing to The Marketing Architects on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.