Nearly 40% of Gen Z now chooses Pinterest over traditional search engines, and a growing number of this demographic is shifting to the platform to escape the chaos found in other social apps. The company’s VP of Ads Product Marketing, Julie Towns, reveals why this cohort’s innate desire for creative expression and curation is also driving this shift. Another growing audience for Pinterest? Men who now represent over a third of the platform's users, seeking everything from Pilates routines to parenting advice.

Plus, we dig into how the platform's "taste graph" of 500 billion human-curated pins predicts trends a year in advance, and what brands can expect to drive Spooky Season sales.

• Gen Z chooses Pinterest for visual search and identity discovery over doomscrolling platforms
• Men comprise over one-third of users, redefining masculinity through wellness and parenting content
• Pinterest's trend predictions are 80% accurate, forecasting cultural shifts nearly a year ahead
• Pinners are 7x more likely to purchase saved products than unsaved items
• Performance Plus campaigns deliver 15%+ increases in return on ad spend for brands
• [00:09:48] "Pinterest is providing an antidote for Gen Z to the intensity and kind of doomscrolling experience that they're having on other social platforms... Gen Z are coming to Pinterest specifically to discover who they are through this act of curation." - Julie Towns
• [00:19:43] "We predict trends almost a year out because we have these trendsetters, trend spotters who are doing the pre-curation months and years in advance... our trends often last two times longer than the trends you see on other social platforms." - Julie Towns
• [00:15:28] "Men are really redefining masculinity, and they're doing that through self-discovery... searches for things like Pilates workouts are up over 300%, father and child activities up almost 400%." - Julie Towns

• Future Commerce's New Modes Report (77% of AI-using shoppers include Pinterest in their journey)
• Pinterest Fall Trend Report (uncommon Halloween costumes up 200%, Pilates searches up 300%)
• Insiders #210: Spooky Commerce - What Halloween Shopping Trends Tell Us About Modern Culture
• Marshall McLuhan on the Future Commerce Podcast

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Rene Federico, US Head of Marketing at Primark, joins Future Commerce to discuss the international retailer's first major marketing push in America after a decade of organic growth and physical retail expansion. Drawing on over 20 years at heritage brands like Nike and Converse, she shares insights on building brand relevance in a performance-obsessed era, translating the "joy of shopping" to different US markets, and why the customer should always be the hero of the story.

• Brand relevance makes you less interchangeable with competitors in the market
• The marketing funnel has collapsed—social media now operates across all stages
• Innovation thrives under constraints; limited resources drive creative solutions
• True brand equity isn't measured on a 30-day dashboard; free yourself from over-measuring creative campaigns
• Customers deserve brands that enable participation, not just transactions
• [00:12:28] "You can stat chase or you can build strategies that help you win as a team. The outcomes will be different depending on your approach." – Rene Federico
• [00:33:06] "Consumers don't shop your org chart, they shop your brand. Business models don't shop—customers do." – Rene Federico
• [00:45:31] "When you get someone to buy something, that is an exertion of power. It means somewhere in their conscience, you've been able to affect a choice. We're in a moment where the customer is the hero of the story." – Rene Federico

• "That's So Primark" campaign
• Herald Square flagship opening Spring 2026

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In a climate where most consumers are concerned about tariffs (84%) and inflation (80%), the holiday season is poised to be a battlefield for retention and revenue. Optimove’s Moshe Demri, SVP of Global Revenue, joins Future Commerce to walk through the 2025 Consumer Holiday Shopping Report and explain why the “charm customer” (those responsive to modest 10%-15% discounts) may be the key to sustainable growth.

• Meet the three customer archetypes: Full-price buyers who purchase regardless of promotions, cherry pickers who chase deep discounts and rarely return, and "charm customers" who respond to modest 10%-15% discounts and show the highest retention rates over time. (The fourth archetype: Brian)
• Transparency as a competitive advantage: Brands that communicate their promotional calendar early (like telling customers in October "this is the only Black Friday promotion you'll see from us") build trust while competitors exhaust and frustrate their audiences.
• Post-holiday retention begins at checkout: Collecting gift-giving data and offering time-sensitive follow-up promotions can transform one-time gift purchasers into repeat customers. The key is creating urgency without devaluing the brand.
• Communication requires quality, not quantity: Dodging customer fatigue is worth the awareness risk. Dialing back from daily to weekly emails might be the better move for companies this year.
• Strategic budget allocation matters more than discount depth: Want to boost long-term profitability and brand equity? Give your VIP customers high-value discounts and experiences, not low-tier cherry-pickers who are unlikely to stick around. From the Episode:
• Optimove’s 2025 Holiday Shopping Report
• New Modes: 2025 Update
• Learn more about this episode’s sponsors, Optimove, Aptos, and Future Commerce Plus.

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