Platform CRO leads the company’s global ad business
Pinterest raises efforts to inspire not only the 400 million users who access the platform worldwide each month. Brands and creators are also seduced by new tools and partnerships committed to building a shopping-friendly content ecosystem.
Idea ads is a format that has already helped to increase “recall by 60% and brand recognition by 56%”, says Bill Watkins, chief revenue officer at Pinterest, in an exclusive interview with PROPMARK, the first that the executive gives to a Latin American vehicle.
Based in Chicago (USA), Watkins has led the global business since January
of Pinterest ads, which reflects one of the fastest growth in the operation in Brazil.
What sets Pinterest apart from other platforms?
Our mission is to bring the inspirations we display to life. Even our monetization strategy, with partners, at the end of the day, is to entertain users all over the world. In other social environments, entertainment is something more passive, and the person ends up being inundated by news, politics. They are very different environments from ours. Pinterest presupposes inspiration and positivity. Although it is a public domain, at the same time it is very personal. For example, when you want to look for references to decorate the house. More than 400 million people around the world access the platform every month. They recognize that Pinterest is good for the soul. In Brazil, more than 35 million users access the platform per month, according to Comscore data from February 2022. It’s inspiring. And that’s the safe, positive place they can go to avoid the negativity of news and politics. That’s where we stand out.
How representative is Brazil?
The Brazilian market grows much faster than the platform average. It’s a potent foundation. And what catches our attention the most is when we look at the Latin American region, with Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and we see the size of Brazil’s population, and the volume of users we have in the country. It is the fastest growing base globally. That’s why it’s such an important region for Pinterest. It is an investment area, a great opportunity. We see healthy revenue growth globally year-to-date, especially in Brazil. And I love that because it means we’re bringing joy. Brands like Samsung, Netflix, Havaianas and American Airlines tell us we’re delivering a good performance. If we are providing good performance for them, we are also inspiring our users. That’s what we want.
What is the profile of Pinterest users?
We value the quality of time people spend on the platform, not spent. We have around six billion searches on the platform every month. Is very. But 97% of those searches don’t involve branding, which means we have these users in Brazil, or anywhere in the world, who are coming to the platform for inspiration. However, they also demonstrate openness to new ideas. Eight out of ten users tell us they discover new brands on Pinterest, showing a shopping-prone mindset in a safe, positive and inspiring environment. We are looking for our own way, and we are managing to scale the connection with brands.
How do users get to Pinterest?
We frequently analyze demographics and platform usage by different user groups. But we study even more the reasons that lead people to come to our platform. Fashion, beauty, gastronomy, travel, decoration, important life moments such as a wedding, buying a house or having a baby are among the main triggers, and we always assess whether the platform is doing a good job of fulfilling its mission to inspire people at these specific moments, but which are global in nature.
What are the efforts to attract creators?
Our focus is to develop an ecosystem of content generators, reinforcing Pinterest’s challenge of being a platform that goes from inspiration to
realization, in addition to building a shopping environment. These are strategic areas of investment. From the creator ecosystem side, this is important because our users want to see video content. At Cannes Lions 2022 we announced our native publishing tools for creators. We also launched a global partnership with the media company Tastemade, with actions in studios around the world, including São Paulo and Buenos Aires, among other locations. Pinterest and Tastemade work to create high quality production, content and inspiring videos.
And for brands?
Our advertising partners have just won Idea ads, an immersive content format that allows you to tell stories in an authentic and creative way, turning ideas into action. We look forward to bringing this feature to our creators and working with brands to deliver an even richer and more engaging experience. We have already noticed that brand recognition increases by 56%, and recall by 60%. It favors creators and shopping. We are looking for regional players in Brazil, and André Loureiro, executive director for Latin America, has been helping us. We also acquired a company called The Yes, a women’s clothing marketplace that uses artificial intelligence to get people to create a personalized feed, based on interactions with brands, style preferences, size. Our users tell us they want to get inspired and shop. The focus on creators and shopping indicates our growth path.
How to measure inspiration?
According to Nielsen research, Pinterest is the number one source of inspiration globally, not just a digital channel. That’s our DNA. Now, we know that our users are also interested in shopping. Our pinners save over 13 million ideas each day. So, we prepare for
offer what they want, in an inspiring, personalized way, while respecting our essence. The research, which talks about the power of inspiration, was unveiled at the second annual global advertisers conference Pinterest Presents, this year themed Here is different. The study points out that inspired people are more likely to act. Local data shows that Pinterest inspires its users more than any other digital platform with new ideas (94%) and inspires pinners to take action, buy or try something new (91%). Brazilian users see Pinterest as a positive space (89%), more than the perception of competitors. The Custom Return on Inspiration survey, conducted in Brazil in June 2021, helped to understand the return of inspiration, how people use Pinterest to make decisions about attitudes and purchases made in real life.
What are the plans for the metaverse?
We have invested for many years in augmented reality technologies to offer everything from virtual tests to a beauty look or home furniture, which already amount to a foray into initiatives linked to the metaverse. However, our mission is to inspire everyone to create the life they love. Step out of your smartphone into the real world and bring what inspired you to life. We’ve examined potential contributions to the metaverse, and our investment in augmented reality is a step in that direction, but in doing so, we need to make sure we preserve the brand’s DNA. There’s a lot of talk about communities versus audience, actually, for data privacy reasons. On the one hand, Apple continues to overturn the traditional audience-based scenario with changes to iOS, while Google talks about taking down cookies. I believe this is forcing the conversation about communities. The ability to understand users is a responsibility, an incredible asset. The way brands build audiences will need to evolve over time. This is fueling conversations around communities. The metaverse does play a role in this, but I think the impetus comes first from the data privacy landscape. Now, the reality is different, and it must face new changes.
Where is communication heading?
We see companies, like Netflix, that have always had a subscriber model, getting into the advertising business. And we see Pinterest, and other platforms, looking for additional revenue streams. The scenario is challenging, but whoever has scale and manages to put the user first, regardless of the medium – be it video, metaverse or audio – will come out ahead. We are committed to the creator economy, bringing together content and shopping in a social commerce context.
How to balance digital and real life?
We take this very seriously. It is the responsibility of all platforms. Pinterest prides itself on inspiring people, even during the pandemic, and everything that is happening in the world. People need positivity. We have teams of researchers who analyze the type of content we are publishing. We have removed any anti-vaccine issues, or issues related to inappropriate body exposure. We are proud to lead this initiative. And we also work with universities, experts and consultants to ensure that we are putting the mental, physical and emotional well-being of our users at the forefront of everything we design.
