Do you need a Pintermission? Honda thinks so…

Photo: adweek.com

Over the past couple of months, companies left and right have been flocking to Pinterest, adding the virtual pin board to their laundry list of social media sites to maintain. In a previous post, I talked about how I thought Pinterest was essentially useless for companies/products that didn't revolve around "lifestyle" - fashion, food, decorating, beauty, fitness, etc. Well, I stand partially corrected. Honda (yep, the car manufacturer) has come up with one of the most clever ways to utilize Pinterest in a way that's relevant to their brand. Instead of pinning pictures of their cars - boring - they are asking you to take a "Pintermission." As part of its Leap List campaign for their CR-V they are encouraging people to live life to the fullest. How does Pinterest come into play? Honda's agency, RPA, "is offering $500 each to the most active pinners (as identified by Mashable) if they'll take a 24-hour break from Pinterest and actually go out and do the stuff they've been pinning about." The pinners who accept the challenge immediately receive the $500 and are asked to create a Pintermission board where they will pin photos of the stuff they do during their break from the site and then Honda will repin those pins onto their Pinterest board. The whole campaign is one giant oxymoron, which I love - I think it's a great tongue-in-cheek way to draw attention to the company. It's clear that Honda is in touch with what's popular and they manipulated Pinterest so that it works for them - that's smart.