How being “purposely positive” became a superpower for Pinterest

The online platform with a difference helps even some of Australia’s oldest brands adapt and thrive, bucking negative trends and building out a deliberately positive corner of the internet.

Some of Australia’s most established retailers are ramping up their social media engagement with customers, and to remarkable effect, says Pinterest’s ANZ managing director Melinda Petrunoff.  

“Retailers and FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] brands have been endemic to Pinterest. But given that we’re so different, we’re seeing banks, as an example, really lean into Pinterest as a platform because they can target things such as ‘life moments,’” she says. 

Petrunoff alludes here to users that are renovating homes, growing their families, or planning an overseas trip.  

“When it comes to travel inspiration, we’ve always got predictions on what will be trending next on the platform. We’re also seeing more travel and airline companies lean into Pinterest to ensure their content is discoverable and actionable,” she says.  

Within this context, Tourism Australia and Tourism NZ are among the raft of organisations that are prominent on the platform. “They run beautiful campaigns, both to our Australian audience and increasingly to those around the world including the US, to really showcase Australia and New Zealand as travel destinations,” Petrunoff says. 

In the traditional retail space, even some of Australia’s oldest department stores are leveraging Pinterest’s unique features to help reposition and to reach younger demographics. 

Petrunoff calls out David Jones as one of Pinterest’s first partners globally to embark on a “custom shopping takeover” of the platform. 

“This was a combination of working with our editorial team to exclusively showcase and shop some of their products to people doing their holiday shopping. That campaign has been live over the past month, and brands like David Jones have really been leaning into the platform,” she says. 

James Holloman, chief marketing officer at David Jones, recently spoke about the campaign’s role in its push to inspire and drive meaningful connections with customers. 

“A key ambition of our marketing strategy is to provide our customers with immersive experiences that celebrate the festive season, while giving them the opportunity to discover, and shop the moments that matter the most,” he said. 

“This partnership extends beyond driving commercial objectives and making Christmas a success; it is about creating memories for millions of Australians and making this Christmas one they will always remember.” 

Ageing down, not up

The popularity of Pinterest with brands like these lies partially in its renewed popularity with a younger audience. As Petrunoff explains, Pinterest is bucking the trend most businesses follow, where users tend to age out of the target demographic. 

“Our platform is ageing down…with Generation Z our largest and fastest-growing audience, accounting for more than 40% of our users,” she says. 

“We’re leaning into what makes our platform unique, and it’s evident that this differs for various generations [of users].” 

Petrunoff notes that Generation-X and Millennial users typically used Pinterest for planning events such as Christmas, baby showers or birthday parties. 

“Gen Z are using the platform to discover themselves and create a life that they love,” she says. 

“Why is that? Pinterest is uniquely positive when it comes to social media – we always say we’re the positive corner of the internet. And that’s because we’ve been very deliberate in creating a safe and inspiring platform.” 

Retail appeal is backed by the numbers 

Other local household name brands including Kmart have been on the platform for years “and are increasingly showcasing their products and offerings to ensure their content is being discovered,” says Petrunoff. 

Within the fashion space, she cites jewellery and makeup brands Pandora and Mecca as long-time Pinterest advertisers, “that all do a beautiful job on-platform to take advantage of it as, increasingly, a shopping destination.” 

This is clearly reflected in the metrics, with management observing a 205% year-on-year lift in the engagement (or click rate) on “shoppable” pins.  

“So, we know that our customers are coming to shop, and one of our strategic goals is making sure we’re innovating to help those customers find what they’re looking for and deliver that personalised shopping experience,” Petrunoff says. 

Why Pinterest, why now?

Australia’s impending social media regulations include a raft of measures including restricting access to individuals aged 16 years and over. Petrunoff believes Pinterest’s unique attributes set it apart in a shifting online environment. 

“Our mission has always been to build a positive and inspirational platform for everybody, and we’ve done that by being proactive in setting policies and building technology that allows us deliver on that promise,” Petrunoff says. 

As examples, she says Pinterest doesn’t have “fake filters” on the platform, which is a distinction versus other social media platforms. The company has invested heavily in technology that ensures people see themselves reflected on the platform and feel included. This includes technology around skin-tone ranges and hair pattern search, where people seeking beauty ideas can select their own skin colour or hair type, so their search results reflect this. Additionally, it also launched body type technology, a first-of-its-kind technology that uses shape, size and form to identify various body types to increase representation. 

“My understanding is that no other platform has been able to build technology like this and it’s something we’re very proud of. When people are searching, their feeds shouldn’t consistently display models of the same shape and size,” Petrunoff says.  

“Using your own filters in searches, you can see examples of people that better reflect yourself. As a business, those types of features allow us to deliver on that customer promise of being safe, positive and inclusive.”  

Pinterest’s emphasis on positivity is also supported by a UC Berkeley 2023 study. It found that active engagement with inspiring content on Pinterest “mitigated the consequences of burnout on people’s daily positive emotions, preserving their capacity to feel good.” 

“In other words, despite being burnt out, participants in the Pinterest condition (red line in the chart below) still had the capacity to feel contented, grateful and compassionate.” 

A superpower, not a challenge

Increasing regulation will be a challenge for many social platforms in the next year and beyond.  

“I don’t see it as a challenge for Pinterest because we’ve been focused on creating a positive and safe platform for our users. We’re a platform that is only available for 13-years plus and are private-only for those under 16 years – which we introduced well over a year ago,” Petrunoff says. 

“We continue to focus on being a platform that makes people feel good about themselves and to support their plans. 

“Given what is unique about our platform, I think that will be a super-strength in an increasingly changing environment and one that sees Pinterest very well-placed to continue from strength to strength.”