Lifestyle brand Anthropologie is hosting a Pinterest contest to promote the discovery of new trends among home and decorating platforms for the summer by incorporating style insight from its fans.

Naming it a #PinToWin challenge, contestants are asked to pin inspiring ideas for all types of summer gatherings. Winners will receive $500 toward Anthropologie dining and entertaining products.

“Anthropologie isn’t just a brand, it’s a lifestyle,” said Apu Gupta, CEO of Curalate, New York, the company that provides Anthropologie with visual marketing and analytics. “By connecting the brand with summer and getting people to envision and articulate their summer plans, Anthropologie connects consumers with the brand and pulls at their heartstrings.”

Anthropologie did not respond by press deadline.

Pinspired
Anthropologie released the news via Facebook and Twitter with a photo of a table setting and steps to participate.

The contest will last through May 30 and participants are required to fill out a short entry form in addition to qualify.

Anthropologie is seeking photos of anything “from cocktail parties to poolside lounging to patio suppers,” the ad reads.

Pinterest, serving as an innovative source of inspiration and creativity, is useful for brands searching for fresh marketing tactics and ideas. Anthropologie will inherit the pins of its participants and use them to recreate new products to stimulate sales both in-store and online.

“Anthropologie will gain valuable insight into what people really want to do in the summer which may provide the brand inspiration for the types of products to carry in the future,” Mr. Gupta said.

Participants respond positively to this type of request because it allows the consumer to share ideas and events that she favors or enjoys.

“They’re not asking the consumer to talk about the brand, they’re actually saying, ‘we want to see your creativity, because we value it,'” Mr. Gupta said. “At a time when brands primarily talk about themselves, for Anthropologie to flip the script speaks volumes about how much they put the consumer first.”

Pinning to Success
Anthropologie is not the only brand to benefit from marketing via Pinterest.

With Pinterest already the biggest source of referral traffic back to Kraftrecipes.com, the brand is one of the first to take advantage of Pinterest’s new Promoted Pins as a way to reach its customers with the right content at the right time.

With the launch of paid Promoted Pins, which are debuting with a handful of big brands such as General Mills, Nestlé, Expedia.com and Gap attached, Pinterest is taking its potential as a marketing platform to the next level. The visual storytelling capabilities offered on Pinterest are appealing to these brands as they continue to invest more heavily in digital marketing yet are still trying to find the strategies that help create deeper consumer connections (see story).

Image based content on Instagram is another way brands successfully market its products.

For example, Kate Spade launched a similar campaign via Instagram to jumpstart Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of summer.

By simply tagging @KateSpadeNY and #TravelColorfully, contestants become eligible to win a generous gift card of $250 all the meanwhile sharing vacation photos. The contest goes through Aug. 28 and works to build a community among its followers (see story).

With a well-established brand such as Anthropologie, it is important to seek the opinions of followers to further build public relations and overall community.

“Brand loyalty and brand personas are built up over time through numerous and repeated touch points with consumers,” Mr. Gupta said.

“Anthropologie knows what they stand for and who their consumer is,” he said. “They’re reiterating their values here – fun, carefree, stylish, beautiful in a really authentic way.”

Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon, editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York