MarTech Interview with Stacy Malone, VP of Global Business Marketing at Pinterest

MarTechSeries caught up with Stacy Malone, VP of Global Business Marketing at Pinterest to chat about some of latest Pinterest’s innovations and how modern marketers are using a variety of marketing tools and processes to drive business objectives:

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Welcome to this MarTech Series chat, Stacy: tell us about your marketing journey through the years and more about your role at Pinterest: what does a day at work look like for you?

Thank you for having me! Well, I have spent the bulk of my career running Media agencies and leading their key client relationships. The beauty of  ‘growing up’ while working at media agencies is that you partner with so many different types of businesses and people, it’s really like living several different careers all at the same time.

But about seven years ago, I got a bit restless and decided to make a career change and moved from the agency world to working at technology companies that are shaping the future of advertising and marketing. As VP of Global Business Marketing at Pinterest, I am helping to shape and spearhead the long-term vision for how Pinterest reaches and markets to businesses, advertisers and agencies of all sizes globally.

Basically, I get to market to one of the toughest target audiences there is – marketers themselves! There truly is never a dull moment. From spending time with the research and sales teams to better understand our customers to working with our marketing team to develop new programs and strategies and evaluating our marketing performance data to glean learnings so we get smarter over time – every day is different. But what consistently gives me energy is leading teams and developing our talent. I love to help people grow, from those earliest in their career through to my most senior direct reports.

We’d love to hear about some of Pinterest’s latest innovations for marketers-advertisers and how it’s helping change the game for digital users?

Pinterest is where people can discover the world’s best ideas, plan to make them happen and shop them into reality—all in a more positive place online. For advertisers, that means they can reach the customers they care about across the entire consumer journey, from discovery to decision to do.

People come to Pinterest with commercial intent so we are always looking for ways to seamlessly connect advertisers to our pinners, when they’re most open to brands.

With improved Pinterest planning tools and customized recommendations, consumers see the right ad from brands at the right time—when they’re most open to it. For example, we recently announced new tools to help advertisers discover emerging trends and measure success.

The expanded Pinterest Trends tool helps advertisers around the world get deeper insights into Pinner planning behaviors to inform campaign planning through creative and targeting.

Additionally, at the end of the advertising journey, Pinterest’s new API for Conversions is now globally available, providing advertisers a comprehensive view of campaign performance to measure the actions those audiences took on an advertiser’s site.

We’re investing in forward-looking solutions that help marketers connect the dots between their first-party data, and their customers’ actions on Pinterest.

We just piloted a new clean room solution with LiveRamp and Albertsons Media Collective to provide a protected, third-party space where brands can join their first-party data and Pinterest platform data in a secure environment to get aggregated insight into ad performance. We’ll continue to balance the need to protect Pinner privacy while helping to ensure advertiser effectiveness.

We will also continue to lead the industry on products and policies that foster brand inclusivity and safety because it pays to be positive. Being a leader in creating a brand safe environment helps build lift and awareness. Our research shows 60% of consumers agree that they’re more likely to remember, trust and purchase from brands in positive environments.

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How has Pinterest enabled brand growth / marketer output over the years: a few stories-learnings from how leading brands have used the platform to their best benefit?

In 2022, we generated revenue of $2.8 billion supporting advertisers of all sizes from around the world. We saw strength from large retailers looking to drive sales as well as from international markets. We also see advertisers from verticals you might not expect succeeded on Pinterest, including automotive, travel and financial services.

Our business is already diversified equally across awareness, consideration and conversion, and our goal is to build the industry standard of a true full-funnel solution. 

We love working with collaborative partners like Kohls, who lean into the power of Pinterest trends but also innovate with never-been-done-before experiences. For example, with Trend Matchmaker, Pinterest created a dating app-style matching system to help the Kohl’s shopper envision where their style can evolve. Consumers had the opportunity to swipe for the styles of their choice in a fun and immersive format and explore recent Pinterest trends. From there, they’re provided with a curated persona of outfits (via Kohls.com) based on their selections. The use of Pinterest trends generated highly engaging content, delivering a CTR that was 62% higher than Kohl’s average on Pinterest.

We also want to make it easy for Pinners to discover what’s new, while also offering premium opportunities for advertisers to reach them at scale. At Shoptalk, we announced that we’re exploring a new takeover feature, Pinterest Premiere Spotlight, that showcases a brand front and center on search. This is a new premium, exclusive placement and we are seeing compelling results for brands thus far.

At the same time, no business challenge is too small. Believe it or not, Pinterest actually helped a local car dealership sell 150 vehicles in three months, which they were able to track directly to their exposure on Pinterest. In partnership with media agency Dealers United, Healey Brothers Auto Group uploaded their vehicle inventory into Pinterest Catalogs. These uploaded Product Pins included each vehicle’s key descriptions, price, and availability. And they took advantage of the product feed which automatically updated every 24 hours, so people on Pinterest could stay up to date with the latest inventory.

How do you feel online networks such as this can enable more presence in a crowded digital world: in what ways do you feel these types of communities/ networks will need to shape up in future to ensure longevity?

• There are plenty of services out there for connecting with friends, scrolling through content or reading the news. Pinterest is different: we’re building a place to plan for yourself, to get inspiration and to ultimately go from an idea to taking action.
• Our research shows that 60% of adults say that the internet feels dark and scary these days but 9 out of 10 people who use Pinterest say it’s an oasis. That’s because we deliberately design for inspiration through our product and policies.
• For example, our algorithm prioritizes explicit signals from people who use Pinterest: more conscious, active engagements, like “saving” an idea. We use those active signals to determine what you see first on Pinterest.
• We recently conducted a study with UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and found that just 10 minutes a day seeking out inspiration buffered against the rising burnout, stress and social disconnectedness among Gen-Z participants.
• Our measure of success is not how long we can capture someone’s attention and keep them on an app. We’re seeking to create real life outcomes in people’s lives. Try that new recipe! Explore that nailscape trend! Fine tune your new fashion aesthetic! What’s powerful for advertisers is that they can be an authentic part of the journey to help people create a life they love.

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What do you feel marketers/advertisers need to do more of to drive more ad revenue from online channels today?

Given inflation is rising and a recession is looming, it’s more critical than ever that marketers are measuring what really matters. However, in the rush to drive more ROI, many marketers are becoming even more dependent on last click measurement data to make their investment decisions. While it might be the easiest method, it’s definitely not the optimal method. My advice is that now is the time to invest in robust measurement capabilities so you really understand which parts of your marketing mix are working the hardest for you. You might be leaving precious dollars on the table just by making decisions based on the wrong data.

Five predictions you have for the overall marketing and ad space for 2023? Prominent networks that you think will come to the forefront more and why?  

• Privacy solutions: If 2022 was any indication, new solutions like clean rooms and other privacy-first offerings will continue to be top of mind for advertisers in 2023. The digital advertising industry has relied on cookies as a measurement tool for years. But as consumer behavior evolves, marketers have to evolve with it.
• Sustainability: A recent report from First Insight found that three-quarters of Gen Z consumers state that sustainability is more important to them than brand names when making purchase decisions. Last year, we launched our industry-leading climate misinformation policy, which made Pinterest the first major digital platform to clearly define guidelines against false or misleading climate change information across content and ads. In addition, this year we published our first ESG report. These kinds of decisions will soon become the standard.
• AI: ChatGPT has brought the power of AI back into the conversation, from its potential to its pitfalls. In the coming year, the importance and utility of AI will continue to be top of mind. At Pinterest, we’re thinking about how to tune AI for positive mental health outcomes. In simple terms: we need to give people a choice. When you tune AI on those more conscious, explicit actions, you get very different outcomes than when you optimize for passive viewing alone.
• Inclusivity: This continues to be top of mind, and more work needs to be done here. In an effort to create belonging on Pinterest, we intentionally make the content surfaced on our platform more representative. For example, we’ve developed unprecedented inclusive features such as hair pattern search and skin tone ranges, because no one should have to work harder to find content that’s relevant to them. Making sure the people can see all facets of themselves on Pinterest is a continued focus next year.
• Shopping: There are many places to transact, but not as many places to shop and enjoy the experience of browsing and discovering something you didn’t even know you were looking for. Buying is a last click experience, and the industry will continue to iterate and innovate on e-commerce this year. Being able to shop what you see is the number one request from consumers. So, we’re making everything on Pinterest shoppable. If you see it, you will be able to shop it. And while so much of the online world is focused on making buying frictionless fast, Pinterest is focused on bringing about moments of discovery and inspiration and fresh, new ideas.