Top Brands Now Testing Pinterest Promoted Pins

We first learned about Pinterest’s plans for promoted pins in September 2013. A month later, Pinterest announced it would be testing the advertising format with an undisclosed group of advertisers. Now, Pinterest is taking the test into the next phase with a group of leading brands that will try promoted pins advertising for search and category feeds. 

These brands include: 

• ABC Family
• Banana Republic
• Expedia.com
• Gap
• General Mills 
• Kraft
• lululemon athletica
• Nestle – Purina, Dreyer’s/Edy’s Ice Cream, Nespresso
• Old Navy
• Target
• Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
• Ziploc

In October, ClickZ covered the promoted pins debut, saying the advertisements may not be transparent enough. With heightened interest on native advertising from the FTC, those ads could be walking a fine line. 

Fast-forward to today, and the message remains the same from Pinterest: The promoted pins will be “tasteful, transparent, relevant, and improved based on Pinner feedback,” the social platform promised.

Judging from the latest image from Pinterest, it doesn’t look like there have been any modifications to the look and feel of promoted pins since their first test run. But the platform did highlight the advertising placed on mobile devices.

Advertisers in the promoted pins test group were no doubt carefully selected based on Pinterest’s target audience. Data coming from eMarketer estimates that 85 percent of the multimillion user base is women on mobile devices.

Advertising on Pinterest from brands like Kraft will be recipe-focused, according to some reports. “Kraft will be running promoted pins – mostly recipes – in four categories: dessert plays that incorporate products like Jell-O and Cool Whip; Kraft cheese brands; Philadelphia Cream Cheese; and content from KraftRecipes.com.” These test campaigns will be three to six months in length.  

Pinterest is encouraging businesses to sign up to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in promoted pins. 

This article was originally published on http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/news/2344593/top-brands-now-testing-pinterest-promoted-pins.