Dive Brief:
- Pinterest's Ad Labs is testing AI-powered auto collages to help brands curate shoppable content, the company announced on June 11.
- In minutes, the AI feature can turn an advertiser’s Pinterest product catalog into thousands of shoppable collages. Pinterest will showcase the technology at this week's Cannes Lions 2025.
- The social media platform is currently working with Macy’s to test and provide feedback on the AI collages. Early testing found that users saved auto-collages twice as often as regular Pins.
Dive Insight:
The AI-generated collages curate product images into shoppable, visual content based on outfit ideas, user engagement, similar products and user saves.
The Pinterest Ad Labs program from last year was launched to create generative-AI-powered products or brands, according to Julie Towns, Pinterest’s vice president for product marketing and operations.
“The auto-collages tool is an exciting leap that harnesses AI to instantly transform how brands turn their product catalog into fresh creative that resonates with Gen Z and beyond,” Towns said in a statement.
Pinterest will expand the offering to more advertisers in the coming months.
The company also enhanced its Pinterest Trends tool to help advertisers better understand what customers want. Using AI and visual clustering tech by Pinterest, the tool is prompted with deeper insights to forecast what users will buy next. The tool leverages search data as well as what users are saving, adding to boards and buying.
As Pinterest continues creating AI–driven ad solutions, its latest collaboration with E.l.f. Cosmetics debuted an AI-powered color analysis tool called “color e.l.f.nalysis.” Users upload a selfie for a color-season analysis. They also get recommended makeup shades and a Pinterest board with shoppable E.l.f. products.
Curation has long existed at the center of Pinterest and its shopping tools for customers. Last holiday season, the company added celebrity gift guides and shoppable wishlists. Celebrities like Alicia Keys, RuPaul and Emma Chamberlain hosted gift guide pages on the app, in an effort for Pinterest to brand itself as a shopping destination.
At the same time, the company has turned to AI to personalize experiences and improve performance for advertisers with tools like the app’s body type search feature and Lens for virtually staged homes.
Disclosure: Cannes Lions is owned by Informa, which owns a controlling stake in Informa TechTarget, the publisher behind Retail Dive. Informa has no influence over Retail Dive's coverage.
