It was only late last year Pinterest appointed its very first CMO. And now, the social media platform is set to expand into traditional advertising with campaigns across TV, print and out-of-home.
As reported on Adweek, Pinterest’s chief marketing officer Andréa Mallard who joined the business in November 2018 said prior to her arrival the platform told its own story without the need for marketing.
However, due to its rapid and large growth, Pinterest’s founders realised the business needed to better explain who they are and what they do to remain a “lasting, iconic global brand.”
Part of Mallard’s remit is to increase Pinterest’s marketing efforts, which include the traditional side of advertising.
She told Adweek: “I think we have to do traditional marketing, especially as we expand globally.
“We’re still going to run comprehension driving campaigns, we’re still going to build really interesting projects that help amplify what makes us different and interesting.
“But we’re going to run some really interesting bigger brand campaigns, so you will probably see us on TV, in out-of-home and in print.”
Before Mallard joined Pinterest, TV, print and OOH ads were never something the brand had truly embraced. And now under her leadership, that’s all set to change.
“It’s been interesting to walk into a role where I have to teach a lot of the organization about the value marketing can bring, and what a 21st century marketing organization looks like and works like,” she said.
“And that’s not just telling a good story, it’s actually saying, ‘How are we building a brand together?’ and ‘What does this product mean to me?’ What does our business model need to be and how do we need to operate in order to be able to tell the stories we want to tell?”
While it is unclear if Pinterest has begun searching for a creative agency or will be doing its creative in-house, it’s a big move for the brand and will be interesting to see how traditional marketing efforts work for the popular social media platform.