Erin McCallion, CMO of Perion, says brands must innovate “relentlessly” to stay relevant and capture consumer attention – in fact, a study from Kantar found brands perceived as innovative grow 7 times faster than others. McCallion shares her perspective on how forward-thinking companies are redefining the way they do business.
You’ve said the best brands evolve fearlessly. Can you offer examples of that?
The best brands don’t fear change, they design for it. Being designed for change means your purpose stays constant, even when the world doesn’t. Airbnb is a great example. When global travel stopped overnight, they reframed their brand from travel to belonging, expanding into long-term stays, remote-work housing, and experiences. You see the same adaptability in brands like Netflix, which has reinvented itself repeatedly from DVDs to streaming to original content-always staying anchored in delivering great stories to global audiences. These brands treat creativity as a learning system where every story makes the next story smarter. We see this across many of our clients. The brands experimenting with AI-driven creativity and accountable measurement are shaping what comes next by adapting creative in real time, using predictive AI to make forward-looking decisions, and connecting signals across channels in ways that redefine what full-funnel accountability looks like.
What steps should brands take to reposition themselves? Do you think brands often wait too long?
The worst time to reinvent a brand is when you’re forced to. The strongest brands evolve from a position of strength, not stress. Repositioning should be a continuous discipline grounded in data, connected to real audience signals, and aligned with how marketing and finance define success. The brands that build it consistently outperform the ones that wait for a crisis.
Perion just announced OutMax. How does that fit into your broader CMO strategy?
CMOs want AI that connects creativity and performance through transparent, adaptive intelligence and that’s what Outmax provides. The real breakthrough is AI that can predict what’s next so brands can act in real time with confidence.
Perion’s recent CMO survey highlights how fragmented measurement systems are holding teams back. How can AI help?
Fragmentation is the tax every marketer pays today, and AI is the first real way to eliminate it. A single campaign touches multiple platforms and signals that don’t naturally connect.
AI finally brings those signals together, revealing what truly drives outcomes and optimizing decisions in real time. CMOs don’t need more reporting; they need decisions they can take to the boardroom. Accountable AI becomes transformational by giving brands a direct line between investment and impact.
