Tal Jacobson, Perion’s CEO: "Israeli companies’ phenomenal performance at this time is more important than ever for the public perception of our economic resilience"
Tal Jacobson, Perion’s CEO: "Israeli companies’ phenomenal performance at this time is more important than ever for the public perception of our economic resilience"
CEO of the Israeli advertising technology giant, listed both on NASDAQ and TASE, whose stock soared in the past week, discusses the tremendous support from foreign investors, and is set on a mission to show Israeli high-tech can continue to grow and deliver even in times of crisis
After reporting on Perion's CSR efforts, we spoke with Tal Jacobson, CEO of the Israeli advertising technology giant listed on NASDAQ and TASE (symbol: PERI), on the 30th day of the war, just as he is about to board an airplane to meet with US investors and customers. In light of excellent earnings results, the company's stock has surged for several days in a row (up more than 17% in the last five days). The company has also launched a revolutionary generative-AI-based audio advertising technology. Jacobson, like fellow senior executives in Israeli high-tech, participated in the Israeli high-tech Delivers campaign, and it seems that, at least in his playground, delivery is happening big time.
Surprising global solidarity
"Contrary to what the public sentiment is here," Tal says, "Israel enjoys extensive support in the business community, especially in the US.
Our global employees all say the same thing: take care of yourself, we'll ensure our results won't be affected, and we'll push even harder than usual to achieve even better results. This evening, I'll be traveling to the US to meet with clients and investors. Not only has no one canceled, but there is a very high demand to schedule more and more meetings. Sometimes, in the Israeli office, when you're on Zoom with 30 attendees from the US, you have to ask them to wait for five minutes; you walk to the shelter, and after a few minutes you come back and resume the meeting. They don’t understand how you can be so relaxed, but to us, this is just another part of life. We need to continue and push forward, we need to advance the economy, launch new technologies, and build confidence in our economy. That's our job as entrepreneurs and managers."
How do you handle this situation as a CEO of a global company?
“The traumatic events of Saturday, October 7th, deeply affected us all. Even in Israel, where there is a degree of mental preparedness for terror attacks, the sheer magnitude of this incident provoked extreme horror. Let alone, for people in the US and around the world, who have witnessed it from a distance.
In the first couple of days, you could sense some hesitance from some US investors, but it only lasted a moment. After our results came out last Wednesday, and they saw the numbers, confidence went up again. They saw we have increased revenue, increased profitability, and even released a new generative AI product that has great potential to change the world of advertising. You could say that everyone was amazed at how we kept delivering, even during such a huge crisis. This goes to show you that there is no other nation like this one. A nation that’s prepared for crises, knows how to deal with crises, and performs and acts just as well (if not better) during challenging times. We have built a country that operates well under stressful situations. All Israeli high-tech companies are built for worse-case scenarios - from server infrastructure redundancy; to the fact that when an employee goes on reserve duty to serve the country, a colleague steps in to handle the workload. This is our state of mind. We know we get up in the morning, and no matter what happens, we will solve it. That’s what makes investing in Israel a smart choice. Entrepreneurs here have a degree of resilience unmatched anywhere else in the world.
So the "Israeli High-Tech Delivers" campaign reflects reality?
"Very much so. As a public company, you always live in reality. It’s like I’m connected to an ECG monitor that is the stocks app - that’s either red or green. It sets the mood. When we, as well as other Israeli public companies, are on a positive trend, we are in a good position. And so, the Israeli industry, Israeli high-tech, is in good shape. It's okay that we're all still feeling the shock of what has happened. But with all the pain, sorrow, and uncertainty, we must send a message to the world that no one will stop us. The discussion in capital market forums shows how much the color of Israeli companies traded on NASDAQ is an important component affecting the perception of Israel’s economic resilience.
In wartime, under fire, we will push the technology and the industry forward. Our goal is to protect our economic well-being. That's what's important to show the world. More than ever, we must remind ourselves of that as well.
National resilience and morale are crucial to winning a war, and it is encouraging to see that not only is the economy not collapsing but growing. We will continue to lead this trend."
In his remarks, Jacobson refers to a 17% rise in the company's share price over the last five trading days, with a 7.5% jump on the day the earnings results were published. An observation shows that other publicly traded Israeli companies have also seen share price increases in recent days, a trend that strengthens Jacobson's approach.
So, how do you work under fire? Is there really no delivery problem?
On Wednesday, despite the situation in Israel, we launched WAVE, an ultra-personal advertising product based on generative AI, which recently aired a campaign by the second biggest supermarket chain in the United States, Albertsons. The product is an advanced technological tool for advertisers, which enables the creation of personalized audio advertisements according to a variety of parameters. The advertisements people will hear on most audio platforms will sound just like a human narrator.
Throughout the past month and even throughout the entire past year, there is a tendency to forget that artificial intelligence is changing the world's industries from end to end. For many years now, the world of advertising has been changing, and it has become clear that you can't take a megaphone and shout the same advertising message to everyone. Recently, this trend has accelerated, and consumers are becoming more sophisticated, and the information they consume is consumed as a long, personalized tail. They also expect a personalized, pleasant, and accurate experience from an advertisement. In today's data-based world, there is the ability to take into account various parameters such as location, time of day, weather and so much more to produce a fairly accurate prediction of a product the consumer will be interested in. Based on this prediction, we use our AI algorithm to generate hundreds of thousands of different audio advertisements tailored to each consumer cluster and speak to it in the right tone, style, and even at the right time.
"We are very strict about privacy," emphasizes Tal. "We don't know whether you are listening to a podcast right now. But we do know that a category of women your age who listen to this podcast during these hours will be interested in purchasing a particular product, and we want to suggest that you purchase it in a way that will create a pleasant experience for you. We know that a connection between a consumer and a brand is only created when there is a positive experience. Therefore, we ensure that our messages are tailored to the end consumer without knowing him."
Years of dreams and years of reality
As the CEO of a large, growing company, what would you advise young entrepreneurs, startups, and other companies to do now?
"As someone who has experienced both ups and downs, peak times and crises, you know that there are just years of dreams and there are years of reality. 2021 was a great year for dreams. Now, we are in a reality period. It means that this is a time when things need to happen, deals need to close, and in general, the whole attitude right now is that before accelerated growth, you have to take care of your bread and butter. Even if you sell for less than what you planned compared to the previous quarter. I advise startups not to sit on technology and wait for better times. Whatever you can promote right now, do it. Do it quickly, before anyone gets ahead of you, if not because of the situation, then because of artificial intelligence. We are measured in times like this. It's a cycle that experienced investors are familiar with. This year is a difficult one, certainly in the shadow of the war, but also financially all over the world. But, I am convinced that next year will be better. You just have to stay optimistic, focused, fight, move fast, and get there safely and successfully."
