- June 8, 2015, 1:47 PM EDT
- Technology
Pinterest is all about the future. People pinning their digital desires—dream weddings, homes, vacations, wardrobes—give marketers a glimpse into their purchasing plans.
But where does that leave a fast-food brand like Wendy's?
"How does fast food figure into that? Because we are not a considered purchase," said Brandon Rhoten, vp of digital and social media at The Wendy's Co.
Wendy's is among the first high-profile brands to launch a comprehensive Pinterest campaign that includes Cinematic Pins, the platform's Gif-like videosthat only move when users scroll and stop moving when scrolling stops.
Wendy's gave Adweek a look at its four Cinematic Pins, which started appearing on the site last week.
The pins promote its new Strawberry Fields salad and depict strawberries going from ripening on the farm to Wendy's kitchens.
"We believe Pinterest is a great place to tell a deeper, broader story that we're not capable of telling on other platforms," Rhoten said. "In this case, we're telling a story about salads. We don't actually serve the strawberries until they are ready to go. A lot of places freeze their strawberries, and we don't do that. So, it's a departure for fast food."
Wendy's believes the theme of delayed gratification—i.e., waiting for fruit to ripen—fits the typical Pinterest mind-set of waiting for a desired product.
Pinterest's audience also fits with Wendy's target market—women, for this particular campaign. Pinterest has a committed fan base of women, even as it attracts more men with a new emphasis on categories like sports and cars.
Cinematic Pins launched last month and are a sign ofPinterest's growing marketing business, which started with Promoted Pins and evolved with more targeting tools and technology to bid on ad space. The moving image is increasingly important on mobile screens with apps like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat all developing unique video ad units.
Wendy's said joining the first round of marketers using Cinematic Pins required a minimum spending commitment but did not reveal the cost of the campaign. VML is Wendy's creative agency that designed the moving pins.
"You have to build content specifically for this ad experience, and that's exactly what we did," Rhoten said. "The strawberry is not ripe, and as you scroll, you see it ripen. So, it's a really unique unit, and you can do some really cool things, creatively."
