For some time now, Pinterest has been in the enviable position of being the #1 social platform that consumers go to when planning long-term purchases. Of course, being #1 and having the ability to monetize it are two entirely different things.
Until now, anyway. With their new Cinematic Pins under testing by a select group of well-known brands including Wendy’s, Nestlé and Target, Pinterest has taken a big step towards the money tree with ads that animate to deliver messages.
Unlike animated ads on other platforms that start immediately (then never stop), Pinterest’s Cinematic Pins match the native atmosphere and “browse & discover” spirit of Pinterest by coming to life only when scrolled over. And fitting in and being embraced by the community pays big dividends for advertisers.
You see, on Pinterest when viewers like your Promoted Pin ad, they share it with others by repinning it to similar boards, just like anything else — and views of repins cost advertisers nothing. According to Pinterest, ad repins currently garner an additional 30% of earned media views. Not too shabby, and proof positive of Big P’s ability to target fully engaged audiences by age, demographics and specific interests.
But maximizing shareability and organic views takes planning, as discussed recently in a ClickZ interview with Kevin Knight, Pinterest’s Head of Creative and Brand Strategy. “One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced is helping advertisers learn how to approach advertising on Pinterest in a way that feels native to Pinners,” said Kevin.
Some brands get it, though. Dreyer’s Ice Cream focuses on inspiring kid friendly, family-fun moments by showing new ways to serve their ice cream in Promoted Pins.
They hit it so far out of the park that Pinterest selected Dreyer’s Halloween board to highlight in a holiday-themed food eblast showing other pinners how to do it.
Which in turn led to retailers approaching Dreyer’s to leverage that online success, turning it into compelling in-store promotions too.
So what’s the message here? That a picture may be worth a thousand words, but a carefully planned, well-executed Promoted Pin strategy is worth much, much more to your brand.
