The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has wrapped up for 2023, with the event having brought together those that work in creative communications and advertising from every corner of the planet.
Mediaweek has been on location in the South of France, and spoke to some of the most influential people in both Australian and global media. Today is Melinda Petrunoff, country manager AU at Pinterest.
Pinterest Manifestival
Of all the brand activations in Cannes, Pinterest’s Manifestival (created by Amplify) caught the attention of punters for more than its beachfront location – where you could get a tattoo, hair styling, piercings, and tooth gems. The space was also a place to highlight the brand’s creativity and sky-high engagement amongst its users, and Petrunoff says that it was also “a really good opportunity for us to showcase what Gen Z are doing on our platform – which is manifesting a life that they love.”
See Also: Cannes Day 4 Recap: Mindshare, Macca’s, Disney, and Deadmau5
“The activations here are really just showcasing how people are finding inspiring ideas, but most importantly, taking action,” says Petrunoff.
“One of the things that is so different about Pinterest is that people come in, they get inspired and they find ideas, but they take those ideas off platform, which we’re really proud of.”
If there is anybody to ask about what’s trending at any point in time, it’s the Pinterest team – and that extends to what’s happening on the ground at Cannes.
“One of the key topics that I’m hearing a lot about is the opportunity to create a more positive and safe internet,” says Petrunoff. “I think that that has been discussed at many, many different moments over the last few days, and is something that I think will continue to be discussed.”
One brave Manifestival goes gets a tattoo
The Power of Positivity
Creating “a more positive and safe internet” is a topic Pinterest knows a thing or two about. The diversity of content on the platform sees the team bringing people content from every corner of the globe, but no matter what people are searching for, Petrunoff says that the message the team want to bring to users – and the market – can be boiled down to one thing: Positivity.
“Positivity is definitely the key takeaway. One of the things that we’re really proud of is that people are coming to Pinterest to seek inspiration in that positive environment.
“What that means from a commercial perspective, and one of the things that we highlight when meeting with global advertisers, is that the opportunity on Pinterest is to have a brand discovered.”
Mediaweek’s Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham at Pineterst Manifestival in Cannes
When Pinterest say they’ve created a positive online space, they mean it, having recently completed a study with UC Berkeley showing that daily interaction with inspiring content on Pinterest helped Gen Z university students to buffer against negative conditions such as burnout.
So not only does Pinterest provide the opportunity for brands to be discovered, but it presents to opportunity for brands to be discovered by a userbase that is incredibly engaged and looking to spend.
“Our users have high intent, we know that half of them are coming to shop on the platform. The thing that we are explaining to all of our global advertisers and partners right now is that our vision is to make everything shoppable,” says Petrunoff. “That is what gives us such a huge point of difference against our competitors.”
It’s one thing to have a positive online space, and another to have an engaged userbase. Where Pinterest succeeds is bringing the two together to create the best result for the users and the advertisers on the site.
Manifestival goers could also get tooth gems
“We know six in 10 people say that they are more likely to trust an advertiser when they find them in a positive environment, so we know it does pay to be positive,” says Petrunoff. “People walk away and leave our platform feeling energised and positive, which is not necessarily the same experience they find on competitor platforms, so it’s very unique for us.
“Equally, we know that that is beneficial to advertisers on our platform. When we’ve looked at the value of customers on Pinterest, they spend two times more than they spend on any competitor website. So again, it does pay to be positive.”
Launching New Products
Petrunoff and the team are now working on bringing products to market that enforce that positivity and boost Pinterest’s business. Petrunoff says that “We’re doing a lot around creating proactive policies, but also launching products that help us achieve a positive environment.”
There are two major recent examples that Petrunoff points to.
“Premiere Spotlight launched last week and is our first high-impact video ad unit, giving brands the ability to really scale out and have a high impact on the audience. We were super excited to be able to launch that, our partners have been anticipating and looking forward to that – I think it’s going to be a very successful product for us.
“Travel Catalogue really just takes our catalogue functionality that supports a shopping experience on platform beyond your retail merchants, to now travel companies as well. People are coming to the platform to manifest their holiday dreams and create boards of holiday inspiration. That feature just makes it a much better user experience, because people can not only find hotels and rental accommodation, but they can also get live updates on products and make purchases.”
Pinterest is a platform that delivers on the full-funnel journey, and Petrunoff is particularly proud of the fact that the team are “looking to give retailers and brands an opportunity to build better customer relationships through a better customer experience, rather than just an impulse purchase.”
“We know that seven in 10 people that save a product on the platform are more likely to shop for that product. When they are shopping for that product, to make sure that we make that experience and user journey as seamless as possible, being able to click and purchase is a huge part of that journey.
“Being able to have a platform that delivers on that full-funnel journey really gives us a huge point of difference in market, and the fact that we know pinners are there to shop is very much going to help us realise our vision of making everything shoppable on platform.”
Pinterest Down Under
Globally, 463 million people are coming to the platform every month, and walking away feeling good about the time they spend there. Upwards of seven million monthly unique visitors are in Australia, and four million ideas are saved on Pinterest in Australia each day. Petrunoff says that the future is bright for Aussies on Pinterest.
“We’ve spent the past year in Australia building our presence and making everyone understand that we’re here to do business. We’ve got brands that are starting to see the value of being on the platform, our role now is just to continue to build out those partnerships and scale with them.
“The new products that we’re launching – Premiere Spotlight and Travel Catalogue – are going to be two examples that will help us in building those partnerships and growing together. I believe that we have a very strong opportunity in Australia.”
Finally, Mediaweek couldn’t let Petrunoff go before asking what some of the major themes making appearances on her own Boards were.
“I was pinning a wardrobe on what to wear in the South of France, I’m wearing a sustainable fashion manufacturer from Rio that I discovered on Pinterest.
“Equally, I love having a holiday moment to look forward to. I’ve got three kids and I just feel that creating moments like that create memories. The most recent thing I did was plan my next break.
“For me, food is more the everyday food ideas that I look for, and just trying to find some fresh ideas to mix it up. I created a vegetarian Thai stir fry, and I was very proud of it.”
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Top Image: Melinda Petrunoff