Page 47 - AdNews May-June 2020

www.adnews.com.au | May-June 2020 47
the pandemic will have on advertising revenue, which has been hit like so many other media companies.
“At this stage, we’re just going to continue on with business as usual as much as we can,” she says.
“At this time we are still going to continue to send people useful information on what people are doing on the platform, whether they use that just for their daily lives or whether they can use that for their businesses.”
A key focus has been to educate the local market on the opportunities of the platform, for both new and current advertisers.
“We continuously see new brands advertising, whether it be big advertisers or small advertisers,” says Lee-Skelton.
“But we are looking at advertisers across different verticals as well. For us being new in the market, one of the big focus areas is going to be ongoing education and comprehension of the product.
“What we find is if we can spend time with these brands, publishers and creatives and help them understand what Pinterest is and what is the mindset of people coming to the platform, that automatically helps them understand how their strategies can fit in on Pinterest. That really is a differentiator for us.”
That “differentiator” for Pinterest is the fact it’s not a social media company, as it is commonly referred to as. Instead, unlike popular apps such as Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, Lee-Skelton says people don’t go on Pinterest to connect with friends and family, or to follow the news.
“They’re coming to Pinterest to ultimately plan for their lives,” she says. “They come onto the platform with a very open and receptive mindset because they’re in the very early stages of browsing and discovery, but they don’t yet know what they want to do or what they want to buy.
“What you find is that 97 per cent of searches on Pinterest will be unbranded, and that’s because people are in the very early stages of
browsing and discovery. But they come in with this commercial intent as well because they know they want to get off and actually do things with what they find on Pinterest. Generally what we always say is that Pinterest should feel like you’re walking into a mall filled with the world’s best ideas.”
This expectation from users to see products on Pinterest means brands shouldn’t feel as though they’re interrupting users’ experience, says Lee-Skelton.
“We still have a long way to go [in educating advertisers] and that’s why it’s still a core focus for us to continue to work with brands, integrate with the publishers and creators to continue with that education and comprehension of the platform.
“Last year was really about getting the team in place to continue to work with the partner- ships that had already been created in the market. This year more than ever it’s about how we bring these locally relevant and inspiring stories out into the world. We are just seeing some beautiful cases of how people are using Pinterest in the Australian market.”
Even before fears of COVID-19 caused Australia’s economy to slow down and changed our life- style almost overnight, Lee-Skelton says the market was already deal- ing in a difficult environment.
“The Australian market has had a number of challenges. We’ve had bushfires, we’ve had floods, and now we have the coronavirus as well,” she says.
“So now more than ever we just need to make sure we are working with our partners as closely as possible.
“I’ve always said to the team that one of the most important things is for us to always be thoughtful and helpful. This is important now more than ever. It’s about making sure we can make these changes as easy as possible for our partners and continue to be that support for them.
“It is just genuinely a tough time for many businesses and we just do our best to remain focused and continue to support our partners as best we can during this troubling time.