Dutch real estate firm’s digital renderings of management Are a runaway hit with investors and analysts
You’d be forgiven for thinking earnings calls tended to be a bit predictable. Management runs through the numbers, analysts lob in their questions and the format barely shifts whether you’re dialing in from London, New York or Sydney.
But today, between the shift to virtual delivery, a genuine leap in the technology on offer and investors who expect rather more from their diaries these days, IR teams now have more choice than they’ve ever previously had.
To name a few of those innovations, we’ve seen IR teams shift to using AI to power their calls – whether to prepare notes or even to generate a fully digital CEO to address their investors – as well as tailoring their approach year-by-year to suit the expectations of analysts and investors.
Clarity in communication and freeing up management time remain key themes even among some of the most forward-thinking examples of earnings call execution – like that of Dutch real estate firm NSI, where Martijn Massen, head of IR and treasury, has been employing AI avatars of the company’s (now departed) CEO Bernd Stahli.
At the time of writing, NSI had done two of these virtual earnings, for half year 2025 and full year and was preparing for the next earnings cycle. When asked about his original motivations in trying out AI in this way, Massen talks about cost, speed and control.
‘Video was the one element we felt was missing from our earnings, but that can be very expensive as well as time consuming if professionally produced – especially when you need to make a last-minute change to a recording,’ he explains. ‘We also report quite early. From a practical perspective, we have three-and-a-half weeks between closing our books and reporting.
‘To create a story out of that, to write a script, film and potentially make changes at the last minute meant video with real people just wasn’t an option.’
Having found an existing AI option, Massen began experimenting – and found the quality to be surprisingly good, offering NSI the ability to add video into the mix with far greater control around timing and delivery.
‘We were very upfront about it being AI, but still, some people didn’t notice,’ he reveals. ‘And the feedback was really good – I expected nuance but it was overwhelmingly positive.
‘Crucially, it allowed us to add something new – without taking anything away – and we saw that it drove a lot of engagement both on the retail side, which I had expected, but also on the institutional side.’
Massen also talks about the way NSI’s AI-driven approach has created efficiencies for those in listening – and questioning – mode.
‘We don’t take anything out of the process to be able to provide an AI video, because we still need the basics,’ he explains. ‘What it does is allow you to add on to that – and also to put more time and effort into the one-on-one relationship that you have with investors.’
While some people hold a view that certain technologies are better suited to companies with a more ‘experimental’ culture, Massen’s experience shows that when it comes to making bold moves, the themes that get management buy-in remain the same.
‘We’re a real estate company – we are not trying to sell AI,’ he points out. ‘As an office company, you might argue that AI would potentially have a negative impact on the sector even. But being able to show your understanding of the technology – that you know how to apply it as well as how it might impact you – is a benefit.
‘Having an AI avatar is actually a great way for your CFO to bring AI into the storyline,’ he adds.
Massen also talks about the process he followed before taking the concept to management: ‘I first had conversations with an external party, who could show me some good examples of this so I could show management what has been done well elsewhere.’
What he ultimately took to the C-suite was a fifth iteration of the video, which he says was important. ‘I later showed them the first version and they said it probably wouldn’t have gone any further if that had been the starting point.’
It was also important to set out the clear objectives around why a change or an addition would benefit the firm’s earnings process, adds Massen, breaking them into three key themes:
- Better engagement: ‘We wanted to better engage retail investors and a video is just more fun than a report. But doing it with ‘real’ people wasn’t an option for us.’
- Cost efficiencies: ‘The AI video wasn’t expensive to do and if we ultimately weren’t happy with it, we could decide not to publish the video without having incurred a big loss.’
- Management: ‘AI obviously means you don’t need to bring real management in. It is also very flexible: we had to make some changes the day before and that was so much easier than with a ‘real’ video in post-production.’
This case study is one of several featured in our recent IR Playbook, written with Lumi Global, titled ‘The future of earnings calls’. The full report is available to read for free here.
