Pinterest has expanded its ongoing experiment with ads, known as ‘promoted pins’, saying that it is working with a small group of brands in the US to display them more prominently.
Promoted pins, which was first announced in September, will now appear to show up in Pinterest’s search and category feeds.
Joanne Bradford, Pinterest’s head of partnerships, said brands help people find inspiration and discover things they care about.
"We hope Promoted Pins give businesses of all sizes a chance to connect with more Pinners," Bradford said.
The social scrapbooking site said brands joining the paid test include ABC Family, Banana Republic, Expedia.com, Gap, General Mills, Kraft, lululemon athletic, Nestle – Purina, Dreyer’s/Edy’s Ice Cream, Nespresso, Old Navy, Target, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Ziploc.
In a blog, product manger Julie Black said the ad unit is intended to be tasteful, transparent and relevant.
"Tens of millions of people have added more than 30 billion Pins to Pinterest and brands are a big part of this. We hope Promoted Pins help you find inspiration and discover things you care about, whether it’s ideas for dinner, places to go or gifts to buy," Black said.
Pinterest claims that it now hosts 750 million pinboards and 30 billion pins, and launched a guided search feature to find images easily.
