Pinterest Announces New Ad Type With Animated Cinematic Pins

Pinterest is continuing to enhance its ad offerings in an attempt to distinguish it from rivals Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The visual-bookmarking site has now unveiled a new kind of ad called “cinematic pins,” which come to life when a user scrolls through a grid of images, or “pins.” The ads play short animations when a user scrolls up or down the page, and reveal a slightly longer version of the video clip when they are clicked on.

The ad has a different feel from the auto-play videos or press-play ads on Facebook and Twitter, as the ad’s animation only moves as fast or as slow as the user is scrolling. This new ad format could attract a wide range of marketers who are looking for an interesting way to reach Pinterest users through a somewhat different looking animation style.

“Pinterest is such a visual medium by definition that it makes sense to me that that was the direction they would go in,” said Chris Curtin, chief brand and innovation marketing officer at Visa. “The dynamic motion that changes with the scroll is something else that’s very compelling.”

The company’s general manager of monetization, Tim Kendall, explained that Pinterest chose this type of animation based on feedback from its user base.

“We have tested this extensively with users,” Kendall said. “What we heard was, auto-play ads are interruptive, and this is so much better because it keeps me in control. We didn’t even bother testing auto-play [based on the response from our users with this product].”

Pinterest is seen by many as a place where users go to collect ideas for the future. Many advertisers see great value in the platform due to the fact that its users browse the site for a variety of reasons, from casually looking for ideas to when they are actively looking for something that signals intent to buy a product. By advertising on Pinterest, companies can gain visibility and can capture that intent, all the way to the point that when the user is ready to buy a product, they click through an ad to get it.

“Our users use Pinterest to plan their future,” explained Kendall. “We get access to a unique set of information that other services don’t have. So, other services may offer some of these audiences that will be similar in name, but the underlying info that powers that audience is based on real people figuring out what they really want to do in their future.”

Pinterest’s new ad offering fits along with the company’s broader rollout of improved ad offerings, including better targeting options, a revised fee model, and an ad-creating service for clients. Clearly, the company is making significant moves to increase its position as an advertising business. Beginning this summer, marketers will have the ability to target U.S. users based on the titles of image boards, along with other pinning behavior. This is a big advancement for the company, which will allow advertisers to refine their targeting to reach Millennials, parents-to-be, and other specific “personas” and “life stages,” whereas in the past the targeting options were limited to broad demographics such as gender and category searches.

Pinterest only officially launched its advertising business in January, but there appears to be a great deal of potential for success in the future. However, marketing analysts expect the company has a long way to go before it catches up with the much more experienced ad businesses of Facebook and Twitter.

According to analytics company comScore, Pinterest had approximately 72.8 million unique U.S. visitors in March, which is up 25 percent from one year earlier. While this growth is impressive, Pinterest does not disclose its actual user base.

The company also announced its plans to change the way that it charges advertisers, so that they only pay for certain user actions, such as downloading an app. Additionally, Pinterest explained its plans for the development of an in-house creative ads team, to build promoted pins for brands as well as to offer extensive analytics support, including providing insight into how users are using the products of a company.

For its “cinematic ad,” Pinterest has signed up a select number of launch partners, including Banana Republic, Gap, L’Oreal, Nestle and Target. It’s certainly a different style of ad than can be seen on other platforms, and its unique nature may help to increase its effectiveness in reaching customers for a wide range of marketers and businesses.

“Until now, most of Pinterest’s ad products have been aimed at brand advertisers, but now Pinterest has something for all stages of the marketing funnel, for smaller as well as larger businesses,” said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson. “Marketers have been waiting for Pinterest to expand its ad product suite and I think these new offerings are definitely in line with what they have been asking for.”