In our last article we explored the relevance of Pinterest in 2019. If you didn’t read it then here’s a quick summary… it’s still relevant. With 250 million active monthly users, 50% of whom earn $50K or greater per year, the platform is a marketers paradise. We know that Pinterest can produce great ROI for brands, but here’s the question. What are you supposed to do with the platform and what makes a good Pinterest marketing campaign? At Moondust, we love checking out cool campaigns. In this article, we’ve rounded up 10 Pinterest marketing campaigns to inspire you.

10 pinterest marketing campaigns to inspire you

#1 The House With a Clock In Its Walls

Pinterest isn’t just an “arts and crafts site”. The biggest brands in the world are using it, including the Hollywood film buffs. Universal Pictures used Pinterest to promote the release of The House With a Clock In Its Walls using Promoted Video. They utilised Pinterest’s maximum width option which spans right across Pinterest’s two column grid layout. The campaign also included several standard videos that began as two frames next to each other, and then broke through the border. A perfect magical touch for the movie. Check it out here.

Takeaway: Universal specifically targeted families with kids. By using short videos packed with magic and adventure they created the right level of intrigue and excitement. Marketers should take time to learn about the great video features offered by Pinterest to see if they can be used for a marketing campaign.

#2 Levi’s

Levi’s are no strangers to innovative marketing campaigns and their dalliance with Pinterest is no different. The brand knows that Pinterest users like to create boards to craft looks. It may be styling their living room or garden but in this case it’s their wardrobe. 55% of fashion Pinners use the platform to discover fashion and style products. That’s what makes the Styled by Levi’s custom fashion finder such a great fit. The interactive quiz asks users their gender, then shows them a series of Levi’s looks and asks them to pick their top 5. The images are varied and include different races, body shapes and looks. It then generates a personalised board with fashion recommendations. This was such a smart campaign. In just two months thousands of boards were created, with balanced engagement between women (51%) and men (49%). The brand had successfully interacted with its target audience and with new shoppable features, had also prompted retail sales.

Takeaway: If you’re a retail brand then it may be worth investing in a customised quiz or game. Levi’s used the Pinterest Developer’s API and their own promoted content to build this tool. You should also cater for every potential customer by being inclusive in your content and imagery.

#3 Ikea

Everyone’s favourite flat pack furnishings retailer recently made a commitment to sustainability. Specifically, IKEA promised to mail out 50% fewer catalogues in 2018. They looked to Pinterest as an alternative channel to share content with customers. This is where they created their “IKEA Inspire My Home” campaign on Pinterest.

Ikea also utilised the Pinterest Developer’s API to create an interactive quiz. Pinterest users were asked to choose 1 of 7 home photos they liked most. Afterwards, the tool scans their Pinterest boards to analyse the products, styles and items they pin most frequently. Finally, users are presented with a personalised board and an option to purchase everything on it! How great is that.

Takeaway: Pinterest users like images that fit together well to create an overall look. That could be a donut with coffee, sunglasses, hat and sandals or in this case a candle, chair and curtains. When crafting your campaign think about pinning beautiful images that inspire users to create an overall look. You will also increase sales by promoting multiple purchases.

#4 FabFitFun

FabFitFun deliver subscription gift boxes to their customers and its marketing team likes to stay on top of the latest trends. For a 2018 special edition box timed nicely with the Cannes Festival of Creativity, FabFitFun did something quite unique. The brand took inspiration from the Pinterest 100, a marketers’ haven of predicted trends, keywords and searches.

FabFitFun then tailored their box around selected trends including:

A sage-coloured vase (Pinterest trend- sage)
A metal-studded clutch (Pinterest trend- mixed metals)
Seaweed snacks (Pinterest trend - plant proteins)
Coconut skin care products (Pinterest trend - cleansing oils)

Takeaway: The box was a huge hit because it provided the exact products people were searching for. Pinterest provides excellent analytics for marketers and it’s a huge shame not to take advantage of them. Tailor your content around the products that users are searching for. Tie your campaigns and boards into upcoming events such as Film Festivals, Valentines or Summer.

#5 Krylon

Would you expect a ground-breaking and innovative Pinterest marketing campaign from a spray paint company? Honestly, neither would we before we encountered Krylon. Krylon differentiated their brand from all the rest by showing how old items could be worth more with a coat of Krylon paint. The brand drove their van across the USA visiting yard sales where they bought and transformed different items with Krylon Spray paint. And here’s the cool bit. They then sold them on Pinterest in real-time, using Pinterest’s buyable pins. With an investment of 200k, Krylon gained 2.4m dollars’ of paid media and increased their daily Pinterest visitors by 400%.

Takeaway: Krylon put in some real marketing effort for this campaign. They tweeted about their road trip, posted how-to’s, animated GIFs and videos to inspire their audience to transform old products. By showing your audience how to “steal a style” or “copy a look” you will inspire them to do the same. The transformation from old and dusty to bright and shiny is intriguing and exciting.

#6 Honda

Trying to wean yourself off social media? You’re probably not the only one. To get people to take a break from social media, Honda did something unusual. The car manufacturer approached four of the most active Pinterest users and offered them $500 each to take a twenty four hour pin break. Not only that. On the pin break they should do all the things they’ve been pinning about. The campaign entitled #Pintermission went viral and the brand achieved over 4.5m interactions, 1.7m followers and nearly 41 million impressions within just one month. And here’s the incredible part. It only cost them $2500!

Takeaway: Honda understood user sentiment about social media usage. Users understand that they spend too much time on social media platforms. They also know influencers brag about experiences that they aren’t always having. Honda tapped into this and avoided being at all promotional, another winning factor for any content marketing campaign.

#7 Guess

To promote their new collection, Guess encouraged Pinterest fans to create inspirational boards based on their four colours - Red Hot Overdu , Noir Teal, Hot House Orange and New Plum Light. The prize was a pair of GUESS coloured denim jeans. The Pinterest-exclusive contest ran for 7 days and produced four winners at the end.

Takeaway: This was a smart campaign by Guess, firstly because of its very low setup cost. If you’re running a competition, then using your own products as a prize is always more cost effective than giving away money. Secondly, the competition had users creating a board containing a specific hashtag, in this case, #GUESScolor. By asking users to create a hashtag you are spreading brand awareness but also making it easy for your team to monitor the success of a campaign and pick a winner.

#8 Joy Cho / Oh Joy

Whilst not specifically a campaign, we can’t miss out on the opportunity to introduce you to Joy Cho (Oh Joy!) With over 12.6 million followers and 4.4 million monthly views, she is the number one most-followed person and a Pinterest queen who will inspire you to take the platform more seriously. Through hard work and perseverance and with minimal spend, she has reached the top of her game.

Takeaway: Browsing Joy Cho’s Pinterest boards is not only strangely soothing but also inspirational. As marketers we can learn the following:
Always use high quality images and beautiful photography
Curate boards to match and contrast beautifully
Always add buyable options to pins
Provide regular “how to” videos and easy tips
Create boards for specific focus areas – for instance, there’s one devoted to just packaging!
Be your own brand, a personality your users want to aspire to.

#9 Pinterest + Air BNB

AirBNB is a huge hit on Instagram and also Pinterest thanks to their ability to utilise beautiful images, storytelling and user curated content. From backpacking adventures through to luxury getaways, the brand really knows how to captivate viewers. Pinterest and Airbnb recently teamed up to reveal the most exhilarating travel itineraries. They did so by combining search stats and trends with stunning photography and real “shoppable” destinations. Here is one example:

Thinking Green

AirBNB understands that users want to minimise their carbon footprint. By utilising the available analytics, they realised that searches on Pinterest for “sustainable travel” had risen 56% on a global scale. Their thinking green boards showed sustainable, authentic accommodation in rural communities like Grottole, Italy, and destinations recovering from natural disasters, like Puerto Rico.

Takeaway: Why craft content that your target audience doesn’t want to read? Before you create a campaign on Pinterest, take some time to understand the platform’s trends and search analytics. If everyone is searching for Spring city getaways, don’t create a board about beach vacations. Insert your content right into your target audience’s search and you will increase your ROI, even organically.

#10 JC Penney

JC Penney decided to reinvigorate high street shopping with 10 live Pinterest boards. The 10' x 9' x 2' digital boards positioned in shopping malls across America, showcased beauty, fashion and hair inspiration. The campaign ran around Mother’s Day and leveraged user insights from Pinterest to create in-store pins.

JC Penney also collaborated with relevant influencers including Heather Buen and Autumn Reo, to speak about trends and styles. All this influencer content was then added to the in-store boards. This was an unusual campaign because it combined influencer marketing, online and physical world marketing. The brand engaged mall shoppers to purchase whilst also increasing online awareness.

Sheeba Philip, VP of marketing strategy and communication at JC Penney said "Pinterest is really a destination for our consumer, this modern American mom looking for head-to-toe looks."

Takeaway: JC Penney knows its audience. This is not a campaign that would work well for every brand, but it illustrates the importance of audience segmentation. By understanding your target market, how they think and where they shop, you will inspire them to purchase and spread brand awareness to the right audience segment.

With a revamped analytics platform, Pinterest catalogs, personalised shopping recommendations and advanced advertising features, there are many opportunities to be creative on Pinterest. As with all social media platforms, great campaigns begin with an innovative idea, excellent content and a good understanding of how to utilise platform features. Talk to the Moondust team now to create and launch your next Pinterest campaign.

10 Pinterest Marketing Campaigns To Inspire You