Pinterest launches its first ad campaign

Pinterest is embarking on its first-ever advertising campaign, just a month after launching its Promoted Pins ad format. Partnering with TV broadcaster Channel 4, the ads will feature around style, food and parenting shows, and the campaign as a whole will have 100 creative iterations. Pinterest, which has 100 million users, is focusing particularly on the UK, where Britons pin 2.2bn items daily, in a bid to expand its international profile.

Visual bookmarking tool Pinterest has unveiled its first ever advertising campaign, which is set to launch in the UK come May.

The multi-channel push is looking to tap into British culture by weaving the billions of ideas, or 'Pins', found on Pinterest into the fabric of daily life by catching people at the very moment they might turn to Pinterest for inspiration.

To do this, a blend of channels will be used to execute the drive, with contextual advertising running across OOH, digital and TV.

Additionally, Pinterest has inked a deal with Channel 4 to run the ads around style, food and parenting shows, calling the network the "ideal fit" to partner with.

The sharing platform has said that there will be over 100 creative iterations of the campaign, which will focus on areas such as recipes and tailor the ads to seasons, trending topics, popular TV shows and even the weather. So for example, a warm summer's day could see ice cream recipes pop up on OOH panels, or an episode of Bake Off might prompt a digital banner offering up 'Pins' on how to make the perfect pastry.

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Pinterest's in-house team came up with the concept, and the site has been working with MediaCom and Stinkdigital on the digital and targeting elements of the project. An example of what the creative might look like can be found above.

The platform now boasts a 100-million strong global userbase. The fact it is launching the campaign in the UK and not in the US, where it's based, highlights its desire to cross the threshold to becoming global. Pinterest claims that Britons pin 2.2bn items per day, showing a particular interest in the DIY, recipe and home decor sections.

“With our first ever advertising campaign, we really want to inspire the UK audience around the broad range of locally relevant ideas they can find on Pinterest for both their everyday and maybe not so everyday life moments,” said Elie Donahue, head of global marketing at Pinterest.

“By focusing on the flavour of British culture, we’re creating an ambitious, innovative campaign that will be constantly changing to connect with people where and when they want to be inspired. We’re thrilled to roll this out in the UK where the media landscape is so conducive to pushing boundaries," she added.

Just last month the company launched its Promoted Pins ad format in the UK, announcing John Lewis and Made.com as launch partners.