In what is essentially a rebranding campaign to reshape current consumer perception, Pinterest chief executive Ben Silbermann recently announced that the biggest challenge that the company faces is getting people to view Pinterest not as a social network but as a visual search engine.
The deeper theme behind the push for repositioning emphasizes that Pinterest product designed for finding great ideas and then putting the phone down and getting out there and living in the real world.
“The No. 1 challenge is getting people to understand that Pinterest isn’t a social network,” Silbermann told Bloomberg. “The hope is that you’ll get ideas for your real life, and you’ll close the app, get off your phone and try those ideas.”
In other words: Get a life, loser.
Silbermann’s comments come as the company moves forward with plans for an extensive out-of-home, digital and print ad campaign to differentiate Pinterest from Instagram and Facebook –both of whom who have over the years nabbed some of Pinterest’s popular image-based features.
In one of the first major moves at setting itself apart, Pinterest last week got rid of the ‘Like’ button on their site –a move additionally influenced by the the fact that many users have found it difficult to distinguish between the ‘Like’ and ‘Save’ buttons on the platform. Myself included.
But the larger brand message for Pinterest is that, unlike Facebook, its platform is not a world within itself where, for many people, the full span of social existence takes place.
“While other companies want you to live in a virtual world, Pinterest encourages people to live in the real world. We like to say, be yourself and not your selfie,” a spokesperson said.
“There are many services out there with the mission of helping you connect and share with friends; we’re the one app exclusively in the visual discovery business.”
Though details were not disclosed about the upcoming ad campaign, Pinterest has tapped creative director Janet Champ, well-known for her work on Nike campaigns.
