Pinterest focuses on automation in performance marketing

Pinterest is a visual discovery platform where users worldwide can collect and share ideas for projects, hobbies, and interests. With over 500 million monthly users, Pinterest allows content to be saved and organized in the form of “pins.” Businesses and creatives can use a business account to access advanced features such as analytics and audience targeting. Pinterest inspires with tailored content displayed based on user engagement and interests, helping to bring creative projects to life. Pinterest is clearly positioning itself as a performance platform this year. This is already evident in its overarching guiding principle: the “P” in Pinterest explicitly stands for performance. At DMEXCO, the presentation will focus on how measurable results, automation, and creative excellence can be combined – especially ahead of the important fourth quarter.

New requirements in performance marketing

The understanding of performance marketing has changed noticeably in recent years. It is no longer just about reach or click numbers, but about efficiency throughout the entire campaign logic. Pinterest is responding to this change and specifically targeting advertisers and agencies that do not view performance in isolation, but as an interplay of media control, creation, and data-based optimization in digital marketing. The focus is on how campaigns can be set up faster, managed more flexibly, and at the same time played out more effectively—without losing the creative appeal for which Pinterest is known as a visual platform.

Performance+ as an automation component

A key product being presented at the trade show is Performance+. This is an AI-supported automation tool that assists advertisers with various steps in campaign creation. Performance+ has a modular structure and can be used either for complete campaigns or for individual components. These include, among other things:

• Automated campaign creation
• Optimization of bidding and targeting logic
• AI-supported creation and further development of creatives

AI-based creative optimization

There is a particular focus on the creative aspect of performance marketing. Pinterest relies on automation here without downplaying the importance of design and context. Creatives can either be completely regenerated or specifically optimized. A typical example is the further development of classic product images: Neutral cutouts can be used to automatically generate visual variants with lifestyle backgrounds that are better suited to the user's situation. This contextual embedding plays a central role in performance, as Pinterest is used as a powerful source of inspiration. AI helps to create suitable visual environments that increase relevance and ultimately achieve better results.

Performance as an interplay of automation and strategy

Despite all the automation, Pinterest emphasizes that Performance+ is not intended as a substitute for strategic work. Rather, the tool takes on operational tasks, while agencies and advertisers can focus more on conception, brand management, and creative ideas. Individual consulting remains an important component, especially for large customer projects. Automation is seen as an enabler, not an end in itself. The platform also provides extensive signals and insights that can be used not only for campaign optimization, but also for creative approaches and even product development.

Significance for the fourth quarter

The timing of the presentation has been deliberately chosen. For many brands, the fourth quarter is considered a crucial phase in the course of the year. Accordingly, there is a high level of interest in solutions that enable rapid scaling and deliver reliable performance. Discussions at the booth and in the lounge show that Performance+ is meeting with great interest, especially against this backdrop. Pinterest is accompanying its trade fair appearance with an extensive program of keynotes, panels, and masterclasses. The focus is not only on product presentations, but also on exchanging ideas with customers and agencies about future requirements in performance marketing.

Classification

With this presentation, Pinterest is underlining its claim that performance marketing should not be thought of in purely technical terms. Automation, AI, and data form the basis, but are consistently linked to creativity and context of use. Performance+ exemplifies this approach: as a tool that accelerates processes without neglecting the creative core of campaigns.