Pinterest has served as presenting sponsor of Cairns Crocodiles, billed as the “Cannes Lions of Australia and APAC,” since its inception in 2022. Following three years of outdoor activations, the brand this year evolved its on-site presence by moving its footprint indoors to a more prominent location, and taking a Gen Z-inspired approach to engagement with a focus on inclusion and optimism. What resulted was a vibrant physical manifestation of the Pinterest user experience that took attendees on a creative journey from discovery to doing.
As marketing, advertising and media decision-makers gathered at the Cairns Convention Centre from May 13-15 for an industry pulse-check, fresh sources of inspiration, and networking, Pinterest was threading its way through multiple aspects of the event to broaden attendees’ understanding of its products, exhibit thought leadership and drive home the fact that it now delivers “performance across the funnel.”
On the content front, Pinterest secured Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus to participate in its opening keynote, while Xanthe Wells, the brand’s vp of global creative, took part in a debate panel on what drives consumer behavior (emotional connection or economics) and appeared on multiple podcasts. Pinterest also for the first time implemented a client advocacy strategy by conducting on-site video testimonials with key partners.
Over on the show floor, using The 2025 Pinterest Palette as a design motif, the brand activated a four-part experience designed to bring the Pinterest user journey to life. Attendees could stop by a pastel-purple Tattoo Parlour to get real tatts, an experience that has been a fan favorite throughout the brand’s title sponsorship of Cairns Crocodiles (and at Cannes). Tattoo inspo is a hot topic on Pinterest, and in that spirit, those who opted to get inked could choose from a menu of designs inspired by trending searches on the platform.
Over in the Collage Studio, attendees were invited to get hands-on with Pinterest by using their own phones to design collages that were then turned into custom luggage tags.
“What’s great about that is they were sitting, sometimes for over an hour, creating these collages,” says Laura Gaffney, director-business marketing, EMEA & APAC, at Pinterest. “It was so good for us to see them so immersed in the product.”
Inside the dill-green-colored Performance Lounge, Pinterest showcased real success stories from brands using the platform, and facilitated casual client conversations.
And at the Colour Club, conferencegoers could partake in a one-on-one consultation that identified their “color season,” another top platform trend. Based on the color analysis, the brand provided personalized tips on how attendees could shop their best looks on Pinterest while showcasing its inclusive fashion and beauty tools, like the ability to search by skin tone, hair pattern and body type.
As far as results, Gaffney says there are several metrics that Pinterest tracks across all of its programs that will be used to gauge the impact of the sponsorship. The company will leverage its revenue attribution model to calculate ROI based on advertising spend following the show, track client engagement based on sales meetings hosted throughout the event, and evaluate content amplification and press coverage.
Ultimately, Gaffney attributes much of Pinterest’s continued success at Cairns Crocodiles to the positivity it infuses into every touchpoint, which mimics the platform’s ethos. And she has the data to back up the approach. The brand commissioned Magna for a recent study which verified that marketers make deeper connections with their audiences when they provide a positive environment for engagement.
“Marketers see better results because the audiences are more engaged. So we spoke a lot about that, both on stage, but also in a lot of the client meetings that we had,” says Gaffney. “Over the last few weeks, we’ve been sharing that research with agencies, and they’ve told us that the data really validates what they knew about Pinterest—but now that data arms them in the conversations that they’re having with clients and it just led us to more meaningful conversations.”
Photo credit: Romy Photography
