Matt Adams, DigitasLBi, deputy head of media, UK, employs a recent example of airline ads appearing next to stories about the missing Malaysian aircraft to explain that while technology and data may drive efficiency and sophisticated targeting, human sensitivity remains essential.

Fifteen years ago I was a junior exec in the marketing department at Harrods. I remember the colour draining from my face when, flicking through the daily newspapers to check some ads had gone out to print, I noticed our back-to-school uniform ad appearing next to a story on a national tragedy involving the death of many school children. Needless to say the wrath that ensued was not pleasant, and fortunately it’s not one I’ve encountered again to this day.

Back then the newspapers had left the shelves and there was little that could be done. But nowadays, technology should be able to save the day, shouldn’t it? Using algorithms, we should be able to filter out negative associations and keep the contextual environment clear. Or so you would have thought.

Fast-forward to today, and in a rare lunchtime lull I follow the story of the missing Malaysian airliner on a major newspaper’s website. Something just didn't seem right. It didn't take me long to feel the familiar shudder run down my spine when I noticed a number of airline ads running in obese formats against this article – not only on the page I was looking at there and then, but also in multiple related articles. The ads were following me around using the type of behavioural targeting that is commonplace these days.

So why didn’t technology help us avoid this unfortunate situation? Did the brand care or just not know? Our industry has even created a term for this: ‘misplacement’.

This interesting challenge is front of mind for a number of advertisers in the UK right now. With the advent of native ads, stories being injected into the social ecosystem by the likes of Twitter, plus more and more technology and data sitting behind the targeting of advertising, how do we find the right balance between efficiency, and on this rare occasion, sensitivity?

I could not stop the daily press going out 15 years ago at Harrods, and once the ads were printed, that was that. But with technology maturing at a rapid pace and the RTB world coming of age with ad spend soaring, someone clever needs to find a way to avoid these airline ads being placed against the wrong content.

Nowadays, the technology is available to help us avoid misplacement, but it is rarely managed to the necessary level by the human behind the machine. RTB is becoming more plug-and-play in its deployment and agencies are faced with the challenge of capturing the relevant negative keywords while reacting quickly when a sensitive story breaks. We should never underestimate the need for man to be in control of machine. We must think as much about where we don’t want our ads to appear, as where we do want them to appear - and on what part of the page.

Misplacement like this shows you can’t ever wholly replace man with machine when it comes to online advertising, especially when it comes to employing RTB.

In the case of the Malaysian Airlines story, I bet the advertiser in question wishes its ads had been hidden at the bottom of the page for once.