Taboola is an online media and advertising technology company founded in Israel in 2007. Now with headquarters in New York City, Taboola has grown into the second-largest media network in the world, behind only Facebook, and provides more than 450 billion article recommendations to internet users every month. Rooted in deep learning and artificial intelligence, Taboola’s discovery platform uses its large data set to help advertisers reach their audience when they are at their most receptive to new information — at the bottom of an article in the form of “Recommended From Around the Web” boxes filled with links customised to each user’s specific viewing habits. In January 2020, Forbes estimated Taboola’s value to be in the region of US$2 billion.
Taboola Case Study
The Client
The Brief
Taboola approached Sherlock Communications in January 2019 with the objective of improving the company’s brand recognition in Latin America. It wanted to expand outwith traditional trade media and beyond simple product announcements. It wanted to reach agency decision makers, brand marketers, ecommerce managers, and publishers. It wanted to proactively release content and thought-leadership ideas to demonstrate the extent of its influence and the depth of its insights. In Brazil and Mexico specifically, Taboola wanted to highlight its status as the world’s largest content recommendation platform and position itself as a genuine business-builder in a similar vein to Google and Facebook.
Overcoming Challenges
Although Taboola is the leader in its field, even those who use it are likely not familiar with its name. Almost everybody has seen a “Recommended From Around the Web” box at the bottom of an article, but few recognise it as powered by Taboola. The result is, with the exception of trade and tech journalists, the majority of media do not know the brand. Our biggest challenge would be to generate awareness of Taboola among media not involved in the advertising industry.
An additional challenge involved the fact Taboola was engaged with some publishing houses but not others. This produced a general reluctance among non-client publications to provide coverage as it would effectively promote their competitors. There was also very little public data we could share regarding how Taboola had helped publishers increase revenue.
We also had to find a creative way of engaging the elusive agency decision-makers, many of whom are bombarded with offers from various marketing platforms. We had to find a way to make sure Taboola was genuinely unforgettable, but had to achieve this with limited access to the CEO and no local press spokespeople in Brazil and Mexico.
Preparation & Planning
We knew in order to grow Taboola’s reputation among its target market, we needed to produce powerful articles that demonstrate thought-leadership. During the research phase, we decided the best way to do this was through pre-written content scheduled for release around key events. To ensure a frequent flow of articles, we created a newsjacking calendar and planned opinion pieces and data-led stories.
After speaking to various marketing decision-makers about their reading habits, it was clear we could reach them through diversified media, including sports, business, and entertainment (not just the trade press). Comment pieces derived from the executive blogs would show thought-leadership while data-led stories would reach a wider variety of outlets. We added more events and key dates to our calendar, combining national holidays with everything from the anniversary of the moon landing, football and politics to finales of popular TV series.
Lastly, determined to create an engaging strategy that would not only result in good coverage but also a direct line of communication between Taboola and prospective customers, we considered events, gifts and activations.
Creative Execution
Knowing that Taboola has data on the online readership of billions of websites, we requested access to the company’s data analysis expert in Israel and discussed how we could work together to maximise coverage. By accessing keyword search data around specific events, we were able to identify potential hooks and trends and create authentic newsworthy material that even news publishers not using Taboola felt compelled to cover.
Using keyword search, we discovered which of Jair Bolsonaro’s ministers featured most prominently in online reading trends. The story proved a great success with widespread coverage, including in Veja — the biggest magazine in Brazil. Similar stories regarding, for example, the Copa América, Black Friday, Rugby World Cup and Rock in Rio also generated plenty of coverage.
It was, however, our analysis of data surrounding Game of Thrones that proved behaviour-changing for Taboola. Recognising GOT’s global popularity, Taboola not only took the pitch worldwide, but started to request other regions analyse data and produce stories specific to their markets. They also asked if we could help them study overseas events too, including the Super Bowl, which was then pushed out in PR initiatives across all markets.
For the thought-leadership articles, we used blog posts by company executives to pitch bylines and avoid the need for interviews. Due to other commitments, between January 2019 and June 2020, Taboola was able to commit to only one non-email interview, when the company’s vice-president visited Brazil. We arranged for Ran Buck to speak simultaneously with Istoé Dinheiro, one of the biggest business outlets in the country, and with Adnews, a Tier One marketing-focused journal.
Improving engagement was another key objective, so we planned and executed a number of activations for Taboola in Brazil, including special screenings of Brazil games in the Copa America, attended by journalists, influencers and partners.
During the annual Carnival celebrations, we produced a float featuring a Taboola-branded band and toured the streets of São Paulo with more than 400 trade buyers, publishers, advertisers, and journalists hopping aboard throughout the day, along with pre and after parties. You can watch videos of this event here.
Later in the year, we hired out the rooftop of São Paulo’s famous Light Building for a party exclusive to Taboola clients and also organised a workshop for clients to better understand the potential of the platform and improve the relationship between company and client.
Of course, as well as the planned materials, we were always alert to potential news coverage. When Taboola announced its merger with Outbrain, the press release came to us at 6am and we had to adapt, translate and pitch without delay. We achieved impressive and immediate results, proving undoubtedly that the company is now recognised within general media as well as trade journals.
Results
Between January 2019 until July 2020, Sherlock Communications generated 395 pieces of coverage for Taboola across key market publications, including Veja and Exame, which both featured Taboola for the first time. Not only did we create genuine news stories, more than one publication contacted us keen to speak with Taboola’s sales team about signing up.
Off the back of our campaign, the client also closed deals with various prominent media, such as Globo, IG and Terra. With all the requests we were receiving, Taboola hired a Brazilian marketing coordinator to work directly with us — after asking us to recommend appropriate candidates.
Taboola often says Sherlock Communications is the best agency they have worked with worldwide and that we generate more ideas and better results than any other. The client constantly praises our team for being proactive in suggesting possible stories. “Sherlock Communications has been a key factor in our success in the LATAM market,” said Dave Struzzi, Taboola Director of PR. “It provides a consistent stream of press coverage in the largest and most noteworthy publications. It also has a true ‘make it work’ attitude and makes the most of every piece of news we provide, which is unique and not something every agency can claim.”
KPIs for Taboola:
221 Pieces of coverages
877M Online Readership
30k Est. Printed Readers
3.63k Social Shares