On Tuesday, September 17th Pinterest hosted an Advertiser Summit, in partnership with DMS – Digital Media Service, a Choueiri Group brand, at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel Convention Centre, to delve into the rollout of its expanded digital advertising solutions across the MENA markets.
The event saw the likes of Ziad Khammar, Chief Operating Officer at DMS; Matt Hogle, Pinterest’s Vice President, Global SMB & Channel Sales; Arthur Sevilla, Pinterest’s Head of Global Insights and Research; Martin Machinandiarena, Pinterest’s Managing Director, Channel Sales; and Flo Kawkabani, DMS’ Regional Sales Director take the stage for short presentations catered specifically to a packed room of leaders representing the region’s brand, marketing, and advertising industry.
Discussions mainly revolved around the impact and effectiveness that Pinterest has offered brands and advertisers as a visual search and discovery platform that has more than 500 million global monthly active users, of which more than 25 million are from the MENA region, representing close to 30 per cent of the region’s population.
“We are not a social media platform where people come to watch dance videos or discuss geopolitics. What we are is a place where people come to discover, decide, take action, and buy,” said Pinterest’s Vice President of SMB Matt Hogle.
Pinterest prioritises brand safety and user intent
In addition to sharing successful regional brand used cases with the likes of Dior, Nivea, Du, Mondelez, and KSA telecom provider Yaqoot, Pinterest also detailed precisely how advertisers in the MENA markets will be able to find and connect with their audiences using Pinterest performance advertising solutions.
Getting the proceedings started, DMS’ COO Ziad Khammar said, “We’re excited to be launching ad solutions in partnership with Pinterest. This is a platform about discovery, fuelled by intent signals, offering inspiration and brand safety, and one that brands coming into the Middle East region from across the world want to associate with.”
Touching upon brand safety and user intent, Matt Hogle, Pinterest’s Vice President, Global SMB & Channel Sales, said, “Pinterest is positioned perfectly at the intersection of social, search, and commerce. We are not a social media platform where people come to watch dance videos or discuss geopolitics. What we are is a place where people come to discover, take action, and buy – whether that’s something as simple as finding an idea for a home renovation, whether that’s to find a new recipe for what to whip up during Ramadan, or whether that’s figuring out what outfit to wear to brunch this weekend.”
Pinterest seems to be attracting brands for all the right reasons. Close to 97 per cent of searches on Pinterest are unbranded. Matt Hogle explained what that means.
“People come to Pinterest with an idea of what they want – for example, a red dress to wear to a brunch. What they don’t come to Pinterest for is who designed that dress, which store they’re going to buy that dress, and what style that dress should be. All those decisions happen on Pinterest. And it’s not just about the dress; it’s also the shoes that go best with the dress, the accessories, the bag, the glasses. This is happening at an incredible pace within the region.”
The Pinterest full funnel approach
Martin Machinandiarena, Pinterest’s Managing Director, Channel Sales, then took the stage to explain just what sets Pinterest apart – a full funnel approach.
“We can perfectly map out the reason why people are using Pinterest. For people using the platform to discover, we can develop upper funnel solutions to drive brand awareness. For people who are deciding, we can add value in the mid-funnel and help them become more informed about the options they have, which makes it easier to decide and take action. For people who have an intent to buy, we can focus on bottom of the funnel conversions with very specific products for each stage,” Martin Machinandiarena said.
Pinterest offers two video options – the standard and the MAX – offering brands the opportunity to stand out and drive brand awareness. It encourages consumers toward brand consideration by offering the opportunity to save into the platform’s boards, thus, collating and curating while they’re looking for information.
In his presentation, Martin also highlighted Pinterest’s shopping ads, carousel ads, and standard ads as options for advertisers, delving into the benefits of each.
“We’ve just opened for advertising in the region, and we’ve already seen proven results. Today, the opportunity is truly extraordinary from a value and from a pricing standpoint.”
Pinterest ad types include:
– Standard ads involve promoting an existing Pin. This type of ad is a video or image that appears in the home feed. The only thing differentiating standard pins from organic pins is a “Promoted by” label. When a user clicks on an organic Pin, they see the Pin detail page. With standard pin ads, they’re taken directly to the URL specified in the pin.– Carousel ads comprise of a group of approximately 2-5 images that users can swipe through on mobile or desktop. When a user saves the ad, the entire carousel is saved to their board.
– Shopping ads are pulled directly from a brand product catalogue, offering catalogue sales as an ad objective. Pinterest can run the data from a product catalogue to automatically target ads to the audience that’s actually interested in similar products. For brands and advertisers, the shopping ads option also offers targeting and audience retargeting options.
‘Ads that consumers actually want to see’
For the final Pinterest presentation of the event, Arthur Sevilla, Pinterest’s Head of Global Insights and Research, shared the strategy behind Pinterest ads and what sets them apart.
“Our ads are additive. Our ads are not disruptive. We’re not changing, annoying, or disrupting the consumer’s natural scrolling behaviour. We’re offering options based on what consumers are actually seeking and discovering. And we’re seeing results. Consumers are actually leaning in, they’re engaging with the content, and because it’s relevant to them, the efficacy of our ads is phenomenal,” Sevilla said.
Pinterest shared data stating that when ads are placed in context on their platform, they have witnessed 60 per cent higher active attention, 2.5 times longer scroll time, and much better receptivity of ads.
“This is within an audience that is highly engaged, and with AI, we are making the content within the ads so much more relevant and personalised to the audience based on their likes, preferences, and active searches. It’s no surprise that the engagement of the audience on the platform is growing, not in single digits but in double digits. We’ve witnessed more than 30 per cent growth in engagement over the last eight quarters,” Sevilla said.
Finally, Flo Kawkabani, DMS’ Regional Sales Director wrapped up the Advertiser Summit with the announcement of Pinterest and DMS’ October Bonus Programme, which is aimed to help brands achieve their individual objectives.
“Whether brands are tapping into consideration awareness or conversion, this will really help us work with you on elevating that media plan, working on the proper metrics, truly understand your objectives, and help brands attain those objectives across several verticals,” Flo Kawkabani concluded.
