{"id":341125,"date":"2017-05-17T06:15:33","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T22:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1491121"},"modified":"2017-05-17T06:15:33","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T22:15:33","slug":"pinterest-will-soon-let-advertisers-reach-consumers-through-their-smartphones-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/pinterest-will-soon-let-advertisers-reach-consumers-through-their-smartphones-camera\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinterest will soon let advertisers reach consumers through their smartphone\u2019s camera"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This afternoon\u00a0at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017, Pinterest president Tim Kendall<\/a>\u00a0showed off how the company\u2019s\u00a0visual search technology could be used to serve ads just by having users snap a photo using their smartphone\u2019s camera. Today, the company launched the ability to connect advertisers with potential customers through \u201cInstant Ideas\u201d<\/a> \u2013 a feature on Pinterest where a small circle at the bottom of a pin will take you to related pins. But Kendall says the company plans to make its visual search technology available to advertisers in other ways, further down the road.<\/p>\n

For example, Pinterest may use visual search in areas like \u201cShop the Look,\u201d which is focused on fashion, or in its Lens product.<\/p>\n

As a reminder, with Lens, Pinterest made it possible for users to kick off searches<\/a> across its service using their camera\u2019s live feed or a photo back in February. The visual search technology can then find related products based on factors like color, texture, style, shape and more.<\/p>\n

Soon, Pinterest will pitch to advertisers that they\u2019ll be able to reach potential customers who are snapping photos with their phone\u2019s camera of things they like.<\/p>\n

He offered a brief demonstration\u00a0of how Lens could work in the real world.<\/p>\n

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Say, you were visiting a friend\u2019s house and really liked their dining room table. Instead of asking them where they bought\u00a0it, you could instead launch the Pinterest app and take a photo. Currently, Pinterest would return a set of products of a similar style. But when Lens opens up to advertisers, they would be able to reach a highly\u00a0targeted audience of customers who like a particular style of furniture by inserting their own ads in Pinterest\u2019s visual search results.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s also interesting about this technology is that it can help advertisers reach consumers who may not even be able to identify what it is \u2013 specifically<\/em> \u2013 about the product in question that appeals to them. That means the customer\u00a0wouldn\u2019t necessarily know what words to type into a search engine like Google (or even Pinterest\u2019s) in order to seek out similar products.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s making the camera itself the search engine for products, instead.<\/p>\n

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    This could help the company refine its pitch to advertisers down the road.<\/p>\n

    Pinterest now\u00a0has 175 million monthly active users, making it one of the larger social networking sites on the internet but it still falls under Facebook and Google\u2019s shadow when it comes to size and scale.<\/p>\n

    Today, it tells\u00a0advertisers they can reach users earlier on in the e-commerce cycle \u2013 when they\u2019re just looking to be inspired about new products like clothing, home goods, travel, etc. \u2013 by browsing the site. Advertisers can also use Pinterest to get in front of potential customers who weren\u2019t yet even aware of the brand or its products.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWhat we see is an ability to reach somebody before they\u2019ve chosen a brand, or before sometimes they even know what they\u2019re looking for,\u201d says Kendall. \u201c97 percent of our searches \u2013 we do 2 billion a month \u2013 are unbranded. \u2026it\u2019s an incredibly efficient place to reach the consumer,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIn the near-term, it\u2019s just going to allow [advertisers]\u00a0to get a higher volume of high quality clicks,\u201d explains Kendall, of the potential in opening\u00a0visual search in Lens to Pinterest advertisers.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIn the medium to long-term, we imagine a world that\u2019s super compelling to advertisers,\u201d he continues. \u201cOne of the things that would be possible with this technology is that you could imagine an advertiser saying \u2018I want to sell my product,\u2019 and all they have to give us is just a photograph \u2013 an image of that product. They don\u2019t have to give us keywords. They don\u2019t have to give us any targeting parameters,\u201d says Kendall.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe can just use the computer vision technology to do the relevancy match and ranking.\u201d<\/p>\n

    This technology has not yet rolled out to Lens and Kendall declined to say exactly when that would occur. However, he did hint\u00a0that the system may need more training data \u2013 including data from today\u2019s launch of visual search in related pins and Instant Ideas<\/a>, before that takes place.<\/p>\n

    That said, with the consumer-facing visual search technology available today, Pinterest has already identified over a billion objects within pins on its site, Kendall noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \"\" This afternoon\u00a0at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017, Pinterest president Tim Kendall\u00a0showed off how the company’s\u00a0visual search technology could be used to serve ads just by having users snap a photo using their smartphone’s camera. Today, the company launched the ability to connect advertisers with potential customers through “Instant Ideas” – a feature on… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

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