Pinterest’s quiet battle for ad dollars is getting louder

By Krystal Scanlon

For years, Pinterest has tried to fashion itself as a safe haven for people looking to escape the bombast of social media.

With posts that let users “pin” everything from quick dinner ideas to home decor, Pinterest hoped advertisers would also see it as a safe place for their dollars. Some did, many others didn’t. Still, Pinterest persisted with the plan. And there are some early signs that its persistence is starting to pay off.

Advertisers are spending more on the platform, according to four media buyers Digiday spoke to. Granted, the levels of spending are nowhere near what’s being spent on the largest social networks and online video platforms, but it’s clear Pinterest has momentum in the wider ad slowdown. Last year, Pinterest increased its revenue by 11.9% to $2.6 billion, whereas Meta’s (albeit much larger) revenue contracted 1%.

“This is a more finger in the wind estimate but for us and our social roster, it’s probably somewhere between 40% to 60% [of clients are on Pinterest]. Maybe half on average, but again, I’m estimating here and it’s not exact,” said Avi Ben-Zvi, vp of paid social at Tinuiti, who was talking about the agency’s total number of clients on the social network.

Bringing agencies on board

That assessment suggests there’s meat on the bone of the recent deal Pinterest struck with Dentsu which could help sweeten the appeal to advertisers.

Under the agreement (financial details of which were not made available), selected Dentsu clients will be provided tailored growth plans, including a bespoke educational program, with access to Dentsu’s Performance Academy as well as Pinterest’s Training Academy, which are essentially training programe for marketers.

In addition, clients that are part of this so-called Nexus partnership will also have access to Dentsu’s proprietary Effective Attention tool, powered by Lumen. The technology aims to identify not only what an individual has been exposed to, but also measure how aware they are of that content by the time they reach the purchase stage, said Chris Howard, managing director, performance at Dentsu.

While Nexus is still an alpha, Howard noted that the social network should be rolling the program out to a broader set of partners. As it stands, there’s no timeline or plans to ramp up these partnerships, according to Pinterest.

We regularly hear that when people take a social media detox, they keep Pinterest on.

Carli Gooch, the agency lead at Pinterest in the U.K.

“Part of the Nexus education stream is about educating our clients on changes in the broader social landscape,” he said. “There is a benefit to everyone within this industry, of our clients being really up to speed on what’s the latest and greatest that’s going on across the whole of the digital media landscape and being able to make the most out of that.”

While Pinterest is not at the “going steady” stage of its relationship with advertisers, the courtship is well and truly underway. The way marketers talk about the social network is a testament to that.

“There’s no space …read more

Source:: Digiday