Unilever has setup a trusted network of online publishers and platforms to work closely with the company to help it clean up its digital advertising. Unilever Trusted Publishers will be made up of global, regional, and local online publishers and platforms.

The aim of the network is to help Unilever combat fraud  by giving it more control and visibility over where its ads are placed, ensuring that people view ads instead of bots.

Publishers and platforms added to the network will have to go beyond Unilever’s current ‘3Vs’ – viewability, verification, and value standards – vetting criteria and will have to satisfy checks around ad fraud, online brand safety, ad experience, traffic quality, ad formatting, and data access.

“We’ve been clear for years about what we want to see online – more consumer trust through greater publisher transparency, more effective use of time and money, and better online experiences for everyone,” said Keith Weed, chief marketing & communications officer at Unilever. “Online advertising credibility is still a global, industry-wide problem and as the world’s second largest advertiser, we have a responsibility to use our scale and influence to address this issue.

“The Unilever Trusted Publishers will add more rigour to how Unilever advertises online. We want to know that real people, not robots, are enjoying our ads – bots don’t eat a lot of Ben & Jerry’s. We will champion the good actors that help us in this while diminishing the roles of the bad.”

Unilever’s launch of the Trusted Publishers network comes just two months after the FMCG giant launched an initiative to develop the first cross-media measurement model alongside the World Federation of Advertisers and other industry bodies. The model will aim to combine existing industry measurement tools into a single system that measures campaign audience, audience reaction, campaign impact, and sustained impact over the short, medium, and long-term.