Lands’ End PR Talks Working With Pinterest
Lands’ End Canvas just wrapped up their “Pin It to Win It” Pinterest contest where ten pinning fashionistas won $250 gift cards to Lands’ End Canvas by creating pinboards with their favorite Lands’ End Canvas products. It’s no surprise that forward thinking brands are turning to Pinterest for creative social media campaigns. In fact, yesterday news flurried around the Net that Pinterest is now the 10th largest social networking site with 31 million visitors per month according to CNET.
I got the chance to interview Michelle Casper, Director of PR at Lands’ End, about why they chose Pinterest to launch a brand-new social media contest.
“We know our Lands’ End Canvas customers are very socially savvy, early adopters and currently engaged with us on Facebook and Twitter,” said Casper. ” Thus, we are continuously looking for innovative communication channels and opportunities to introduce new customers to the brand while also delighting our existing customers. Pinterest is the intersection of style and social and is a natural, visual platform to showcase the lifestyle and relevant appeal of Lands’ End Canvas. We wanted the Pin It to Win It contest to be a fun, engaging moment with Lands’ End Canvas. We hope that it not only engages participants but that is also helps them discover Lands’ End Canvas, its products and images, to inspire their own personal style”.
One of the interesting and unique angels about Pinterest is it allows pinners to use the site in creative ways that other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook cannot replicate.
“As a visual company, the Pinterest virtual pinboards foster inspiration, creativity and design, elements that are all relevant to our brand,” Casper continued. “In addition, it is a simple way for new customers to be inspired by Lands’ End Canvas and click through to find those products. This is our first Pinterest contest to date and we are so excited to continue exploring new and fun ways to engage our pinners, fans, friends, and followers in 2012″.
Even though Pinterest is enjoying a wave of enthusiastic users who happily pin and repin, who knows how long it will last and how soon people may get bored with it. Despite that Pinterest is huge right now. I asked Casper how big she thinks the contest can become with Pinterest’s loyal user base.
“Being our first Pinterest contest, we are still in the learning and discovery phase. We’re trying to understand the contagious energy and we’re excited to see what the brand engagement is as a result!”
Visit Lands’ End Canvas at www.landsendcanvas.com
Well, I agree with Nicole.
I am a big fan of Pinterest.
Many times social media is being connected with business and advertisement, while all we need is just to have fun.
Btw, I am also joining other social voting site that is designed for Pinterest users to vote and discuss their pin submissions.
It’s fun site called http://www.pinfaves.com
Perhaps you are interested to check it out @Jennifer ?
I don’t like the idea of Pinterest being used in this way. Why does everything have to be an avenue for advertisers? Why can’t we just have a pure space to share what we love. Once people start pinning for contest entries and advertising for brands, it will quickly become a place full of ads that you will have to weed thru to find what you really wanted to see in the first place.
I understand the desire for brands to want to jump in on this bandwagon……….but please, can we just keep it the way it is?
I’m afraid it’s too late. The horse is already out of the barn.
Great idea! We’re just starting out on Pinterest but already see great value in it. Land’s End is definitely a step ahead of most companies with their forward thinking contest! We’ve taken a different approach by allowing customers to read real, handwritten reviews from other guests. It provides for a visual and tangible feedback forum that you simply can’t get with Yelp or TripAdvisor: http://pinterest.com/discoverhawaii/greg-customer-comments/
Thanks for sharing this story!
Pinterest is something that I definitely need to check out. It’s one of those things that I have heard a lot about, but never signed up for.