SAN JUAN, PR – In an increasingly complex digital landscape, brand safety has become more than just a buzzword—it’s a necessity. But according to Kerel Cooper, chief marketing officer of contextual advertising platform GumGum, the industry’s current approach may not be enough. Cooper said in this interview at the Beet Retreat San Juan that contextual alignment represents the future of brand safety and a transformative step toward deeper, more meaningful consumer engagement.
Beyond keyword blocking
“Contextual alignment really, in my eyes, means the next level of brand safety,” Cooper said. The standard approach to brand safety often relies on rudimentary methods like keyword blocking and URL-based filtering. While these tools can prevent ads from appearing next to obviously inappropriate content, they frequently lack nuance.
Cooper highlighted the limitations of this method with a powerful example: “Unfortunately, in our country, a lot of brands block the word shot or shooting, right? But if you think about the Olympics and the stories that were written about basketball and other sports that use the word shot or shooting… we’re able to put the word in its proper context to know that it’s brand safe, that it’s talking about a sport.”
This is where GumGum’s contextual technology steps in, analyzing the full depth of a page—from text and images to video and audio—to understand true meaning, not just isolated words.
Understanding mindset
Contextual alignment goes further than safety—it’s about relevance and emotional connection.
“We all have different interests, and those interests can vary year to year, month to month, day to day, depending on the mindset that we’re in,” Cooper said. This insight is key to understanding why the same message can resonate—or fall flat—depending on timing and context.
GumGum’s platform leverages real-time data signals from on-page content to determine a user’s mindset.
“We use all of those signals to determine the mindset that that consumer is in and then be able to deliver the right brand message at that moment in time,” Cooper said.
This mindset-driven approach enables advertisers to speak to consumers when they are most open to engaging—creating moments of genuine connection rather than disruptive interruptions.
Building long-term relationships
The ultimate goal, Cooper said, is to foster long-term relationships between brands and consumers.
“The end result for the brand or the advertiser… is developing a long-term relationship with that consumer, which is what all brands want to do,” he said
By delivering ads that are not only contextually safe but emotionally and situationally relevant, brands can move beyond transactional advertising to something more enduring. This approach not only enhances brand perception but also improves campaign performance over time.
Mindset graph
At the heart of this strategy is GumGum’s evolving Mindset Graph, which brings together campaign delivery data, creative performance, and comprehensive content analysis.
“We’re continuing to develop what we call the mindset graph… using that information to help brands and agencies plan and activate and report better on their campaigns,” Cooper said.
The result is a holistic system that helps advertisers make smarter, data-informed decisions from start to finish—while respecting consumer privacy and ensuring contextual accuracy.
Future of contextual advertising
In a world where digital environments are constantly shifting, Cooper’s vision of contextual alignment as “the next level of brand safety” is more than just innovation—it’s adaptation. As marketers and publishers navigate a privacy-first era with fewer cookies and heightened sensitivity around content, contextual intelligence could be the key to staying relevant.
And more importantly, as Cooper makes clear, it’s a way to connect with consumers not just when it’s safe—but when it matters.
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