Pinterest, the visual inspiration platform, has added 100 million monthly active users in 2020, more than any other year in its history – climbing to a global monthly reach of more than 450 million. It also hit all-time highs for global engagement, with searches up more than 60% year-over-year and saves up about 40%.

Capitalizing on growing momentum, Pinterest launched its first-ever business marketing campaign to engage with advertisers in Canada, the US, the UK, France, Germany, and Australia.

The “Be Their Next” campaign focuses on Pinterest’s unique audience mindset, with quick videos that demonstrate user experience and interaction across five different verticals – auto, retail, financial services, tech/telco and beauty. The campaign will run on social platforms such as Linkedin, as well as in key trade publications in the respective regions. The goal is to introduce Pinterest to an even broader set of advertisers and articulate the unique consumer mindset and intent of its audience.

“People come to Pinterest looking for inspiration, so advertisers have the opportunity to be just that and reach them at the very early stages of research. It’s an opportunity to shape what they’re looking for,” explains global head of business marketing, Jim Habig.

“Pinners are ready to make a purchase but are undecided. They are empowered to explore possibilities and are open to ideas from businesses that match their interests. Businesses help turn their ideas into reality,” he adds. “This gives brands the opportunity to be discovered. Because Pinners welcome ideas, ads are not seen as intrusive. They’re seen as additive, helping people to find inspiration and discover the products they want.”

Pinterest added 100 million new users in 2020, bringing the total number of Pinners to more than 450 million worldwide.

Currently, 97% of top consumer searches on Pinterest are unbranded – meaning most users are not typing a brand name into their searches. About 83% of weekly Pinners, however, have made a purchase based on brand content they’ve seen (GfK, Pinterest Path to Purchase Study among Weekly Pinners who use Pinterest in the Category, Nov 2018). So, the idea driving the campaign is that brands that get creative can “be their next” – a consumer’s next try, next save or next purchase.

“People come to the platform to plan for the projects in their lives and Canadians are coming to Pinterest to make decisions on what to do or buy next. With this unique intent-driven audience makeup, Pinterest is helping advertisers reach customers ready to make a purchase and act,” says Erin Elofson, head of Canada and Australia at Pinterest.

Pinterest offers plenty of tools for marketers, from annual consumer insights to monthly trends reports. Over the past year, it has also developed new tools to aid in conversion optimization and automated bidding, and has launched new shopping products, such as video for Collections.

At Pinterest’s first-ever global advertisers summit last month, it also rolled out a new ad solution, Pinterest Premiere, which gives advertisers the option to align video ad targeting with either a specific demographic or category. Video use is surging on Pinterest, with Pinners watching nearly one billion videos a day.

Habig says the platform has also expanded past its core of food, style, home decor and beauty to new verticals like financial services and automotive.

“On Pinterest, highly visual content performs the best and marketers have a broad palette to choose from – from richly visual collection Pins, to video ads, to shopping ads showcasing an advertiser’s online catalogue,” he explains.

Habig adds that the aspirational nature and scope of content on the platform means that Pinterest can also partner with advertisers to provide customized insights that can help their businesses grow. “We can uniquely paint a picture of the future and offer advertisers insights that can inform not just their communication strategy but also their product roadmap.”