Design the Exit: Pinterest's Gen Z Marketing Message at DMEXCO 2026
Greg Owens went online to find a metal blender. Nearly an hour later, he was watching a stranger on the other side of the world power hose a driveway.
Owens, Vice President International at Pinterest, calls that pattern the loop. He told the DMEXCO 2026 audience in Cologne that the loop is a deliberate design choice. The system feeds people content just interesting, provocative or ridiculous enough to keep them scrolling.
His keynote combined new Pinterest research with three brand case studies to explain what he calls designing the exit. Owens argued that brands should help people find what they need quickly and confidently, then let them get back to living their lives.
Forty percent of Gen Z say they wish social media had never been invented. In Germany, 84% of 18 to 24 year olds say they use their phones too much. Nearly half of 16 to 21 year olds in the UK say they would prefer to have been born in a world without the internet.
Owens reads the data as a generation cutting the parts of technology that waste its time. Marketers have staked almost three-quarters of global media spend on that digital ecosystem, he said.
Pinterest sees big jumps in searches for dumb phones, analog aesthetic and things to do instead of scrolling. Nature film photography and plastic model kit cars show up in the same signals. Owens described these users as people planning, on their phones, for the moment they put them down.
Pinterest also asked Gen Z directly what happens when they stop scrolling. They reported using the time to start a book club, join a run club or launch a business.
More than 40% of the time people go online, they get pulled into a scroll that ends somewhere they never intended. Owens said people stuck in that loop tune brands out and feel that brands are following them.
When people’s sense of well-being is low, they are about half as likely to take action. Owens translated that into fewer decisions, more abandoned carts and revenue left on the table.
The reverse also holds. People who feel their time is well spent show more confidence to act, ignore brands less often and buy more. They also trust, remember and stay loyal to those brands at higher rates.
With AI deciding what gets surfaced online, Owens said, brand perception matters more than ever, and no algorithm can manufacture how people feel about a brand.
Owens acknowledged that marketers still have goals to hit and that capturing attention remains a critical part of the job. He asked them to add a second question: how to ignite intention.
Pinterest once followed the traditional social playbook, he said, and lost touch with what people loved most about it. The company changed course and started engineering for time well spent. Monthly active users soared, Gen Z became its largest and fastest-growing demographic, and brand love rose. Owens said Pinterest realized it was sitting at the exit, the place where people decide what to try, buy or do next.
Owens said designing the exit lives in the stories, platforms and partnerships a brand already chooses. He offered three broad principles: open the door, ignite intention and set people free.
The first principle puts the customer’s real world at the center. A duvet cover becomes a first apartment that feels like home, and sunscreen becomes packing for a dream trip planned for nearly two years.
Virgin Australia built premium travel films on that idea, using collage-style visuals of destination reveals, suitcases, boarding passes and aircraft windows opening onto somewhere beautiful. The call to action was “live it,” two words Owens said turned a transaction into a threshold.
Igniting intention covers the messy middle of the funnel, where people move from wanting something to doing it. Owens recommended personalized options, guidance and next steps, such as the exact recipe and shopping list, the full outfit with links or a step-by-step room plan.
Altoids followed that approach. On Pinterest, searches for Altoid wallet ideas tripled year over year and searches for Altoid DIY ideas more than doubled. People were turning the tins into wallets, mini storage cases and keepsakes.
The brand then developed its own tin ideas for Gen Z moments such as date night, summer travel, festivals and wedding seasons. It also gave people a customizable starting point on Pinterest.
The third principle asks brands to let people go, with click and collect for someone furnishing a dorm or a booking link for a trip they are ready to take. Platform choice matters here, since a brand on a platform built for the loop can become part of what keeps people stuck.
Starbucks Mexico built a path out ahead of the 2025 holiday season. It reframed its cafe as the place where connection happens, then added a calendar feature with a prefilled invite, time and place already set, ready to send to a friend or family member. Customers moved from “we should catch up” to a plan.
For senior marketers, the practical question Owens left is what comes after attention. His three principles give a sequence: show the customer’s real life, give them specific next steps, then let them go.
He said the approach applies in any category, from travel to breath mints to coffee. A brand that becomes the bridge to something real, Owens said, earns customers who come back and bring everyone they know.
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