In the two years since Zanza Wells joined Pinterest as vice president of global creative, she has brought all of the brand’s creative elements in-house through an in-house studio called Pinterest’s House of Creative. She also launched Pinterest’s global creative platform It’s Possible, oversaw the activation of the Cannes Pinterest Manifesto in 2023 and 2024, and perhaps most importantly, added support to the platform’s nearly 100 million users, most notably Z It helped attract generations. This year, Pinterest surpassed 500 million monthly active users, with over 40% of its base being Gen Z.
Wells first entered the industry agency side, learning from the great Lee Clow at TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, working his way up from art director to creative director and then chief creative officer and partner at the LA-based boutique. did. She joined Google’s Nest in 2017 as Global Creative Director and moved to the client side, where she led the Google devices and services creative team for five years as Global Executive Creative Director. While there, she built an in-house creative team and separated Google from outside agencies, ultimately saving the brand millions of dollars.
Wells recently visited Toronto and spoke with Campaign about what’s next for Pinterest, how brands are connecting with Gen Z, and where AI will come into play.
House of Creative Overview:
Wells said Pinterest’s in-house creative agency focuses primarily on ideation, from developing a concept to selling it and hiring the right director to execute it. When it comes to production, Pinterest has a small in-house team, with one video editor and several motion graphics experts. Pinterest will continue to hire external production partners to bring our campaigns to life and ultimately lead the creative vision. “We continue to be the first port of call for all marketers,” she said. “We are expanding our ability to do more with the inbound we get.”
What strategies does Pinterest use to reach Gen Z?
“I think we’re at an incredible tipping point when it comes to brands, and I love that Gen Z is discovering Pinterest like it’s a whole new platform,” Wells said. Said.
“The biggest insight I’ve uncovered since being here is that coolness is not a key performance indicator,” she added. “For a long time, I think Pinterest was about looking ‘cool’ or ‘young,’ but when I got here, for some reason, it just didn’t feel real.” When I discussed the possibility of quitting and going to Pinterest, I was greeted with great enthusiasm as I realized that the platform had already gained credibility among younger users. They told her that they love Pinterest and even have their own Pinterest board.
“I saw there was a lot of energy around it and thought, ‘Okay, this is a place where they can be themselves,'” she said, acknowledging that this is a consumer insight that brands should focus on. explained. “I used to put posters on my bedroom wall. [youth] I create an identity by putting them together on a digital board or making a collage. And I think that’s really important in building self-esteem and it’s a matter of having the space to figure out who you are without being judged. ”
How can brands truly communicate with this target audience?
“We looked at what we’ve done so far and thought, ‘What value can we actually provide to consumers in a very direct way, rather than trying to be cold-hearted?'” Wells said. From her perspective, the solution was to let consumers create while providing the tools and inspiration.
“We are a platform for creative inspiration, so when we invite people to join our brand, we want them to actually make things. I want them to feel good about themselves by doing something instead of sending something,” she said.
The brand first implemented a Pinterest Manifest Station at the Coachella music festival in April. The station will offer festival goers an immersive experience in enhancing their looks with the help of on-site professional fashion and beauty stylists. “When we showed up at Coachella, instead of saying, ‘Hey guys, look how cool we are,’ we said, ‘You guys make something, give us something that’s cool for you. Let me see,'” she said. “At every turn, we’re looking for ways to tap into Gen Z’s creativity.”
Inviting consumers to Pinterest was also the strategy behind the brand’s latest campaign, It’s Possible. The campaign imagines a fantastical, fictional world inspired by what consumers are looking for on the platform, whether it’s carpet shopping, planning a dinner party or establishing an outfit aesthetic.
This creative is based on the insight that Pinterest users spend a lot of time on the platform, carefully curating and collaging boards to create their dream lives.
“We think of ourselves as a gallery wall to the paintings themselves. We really are a showcase for all the creativity in the world,” Wells said. “We treat our advertising the same way. We don’t want to interfere too much with showing what’s out there.”
How will Pinterest use AI?
“When this came out, people started saying, ‘Look at all the image production you can do.’ The creative industries are going to disappear,’ but I really don’t think that’s the case,” Wells said. spoke. “I think that’s like saying, ‘Once Photoshop comes along, we’re all not going to be designers.’ But you still need creative people to make choices.”
Pinterest currently leverages AI in pre-production, such as using AI to create storyboards, but the brand doesn’t ship anything made with AI. However, it is used in visual effects handled by external production vendors. “We have a lot of tools that allow advertisers to promote their products on Pinterest by changing the background and making their ads more appealing,” Wells explained.
Regarding Pinterest’s position on AI, the brand said it will continue to focus on trust.
“When trying to reach consumers, you should always look at context. Ask yourself, ‘What don’t they see in the world?’ And now they are seeing many perfect humans created by computers,” she said. “Where’s the value? How can we do things differently?”
“When we developed our recent brand campaign, we evaluated the AI wave and thought, ‘What’s that zigzag?’ And it was about actually handcrafting something,” she says. I did. While it would have been efficient in both time and money to create all the crafts shown in the campaign spots (like the knitted cat accessories in the Whatever You’re Into spot), Wells said the I said it’s truer to Pinterest’s roots. .
“When you think about all the things that make Pinterest what it is, like quilting and beading and cooking, I think it was important for us to emphasize that level of skill,” she said. “Then we can point to our brand campaign and say this is something made by hand, not a machine.”
This article originally appeared on Campaign Canada.
