Pinterest is a comparatively new platform for retailers to try, and Harrods is one of the first UK brands to do something interesting with it.

Harrods Pinterest

Most of Pinterest’s users are at present US-based, but it’s worth keeping an eye on it because UK growth has been fast - unique visitors rose nearly 200% between January and February to 727,000 according to market research company ComScore.

Harrods’ use of it is perfectly suited to the medium. Pinterest is very visual - for users, the site is all about finding images that they like and pinning them to their own virtual notice board. Harrods has responded by linking these online ‘mood boards’ to its physical window displays. It asked Pinterest users to create a mood board based on the theme of ‘Diamond Jubilee street party’. The best Pinterest page will be used to inspire the creation of Harrods’ window display for the Jubilee.

Harrods has uploaded its own set of images to help give participants ideas, and asks them to tweet their boards with the hashtag #HarrodsWindows. It is a good example of cross channel marketing and customer engagement.

Harrods has been careful to keep its selling soft. While some of the uploaded images are of Harrods’ products, the page is largely made up of content from other sites such as craft site Etsy.com and interiors blogs. This stops customers feeling sold to, but still gently boosts web traffic.

The audience reach may not be huge, but Pinterest is likely to be - now is the right time to try ideas like this.