New Pinterest update to set your ads in motion with Cinematic Pins

The new mobile ad Pinterest feature will enable brands to tell stories with looping video ads with the motion controlled by user scrolling.

In their new marketing plan, Pinterest believes it has found a better way for advertisers to capture consumer attention with animate motion ads and we think they are right. It’s a step forward for the brand and most importantly for the brands that are present on Pinterest.

The feature is called Cinematic Pins,and has been announced yesterday.  The update is going to be implemented to Pinterest streams this summer, the new mobile ad product enables brands to create moving Pinterest advertisements. And because the motion is controlled by Pinterest users, the company says, the experience won’t be annoying … like, for instance, autoplay video ads.

“What’s really unique about this is that it keeps the user in control,” Tim Kendall, Pinterest’s general manager for monetization told Marketing Land. “We believe that autoplay as it exists today is interruptive and annoying. What we believe we have achieved with Cinematic Pins is a way to delight the user, let them stay in control of motion while also allowing the brand to tell their story.”

Cinematic Pins were introduced along with several other new Pinterest initiatives, including the impending official rollout of the company’s CPC based Promoted Pin program, now enhanced by cost per action and cost per engagement features.

For Cinematic Pins, users will maintain that control via scrolling on mobile devices. (The ads won’t be served to desktop users, which makes sense since more than 80% of Pinterest activity takes place on mobile). The ads will display on home and category feeds; when a Cinematic Pin comes into view, it will start moving. It will move at the speed the user is scrolling and stop when the user stops. If a user clicks into the Pin, he or she will view a longer, looping version of the video, which plays without sound.

Pinterest produced a video of how Cinematic Pins will look:

In user testing, Kendall said, people enjoyed playing with the interactive nature of the Pins. “The user feels like they are in control,” he said, “and the experience actually delights them because they start to play with it, and then that acts as foray into clicking through on it and then watching the full video.”

The looping videos will be on the short side. Pinterest is recommending that brands keep the full videos to about 50 frames, 10 of which are shows on users feeds. Launch partners include Banana Republic, Gap, L’Oreal, Nestle, Old Navy, Target, Unilever, Visa, Walgreens and Wendy’s.