Pinterest x Athleta (strategic partnership)
My Role: Lead strategist and creative director.
Defined the audience strategy and narrative framing, translated cultural and platform insights into a cohesive creative system, and led the concept development across brand and channel.
The Situation
Athleta was exploring how to re-engage its core audience while meaningfully expanding relevance with Gen Z. The opportunity was to use Pinterest not as a trend-chasing platform, but as a strategic partner, leveraging its unique foresight tools to build cultural relevance early and authentically.
The Insight
Athleta’s core audience values representation, real bodies, and products that show up for them as they show up for everyone else. Gen Z, meanwhile, is drawn to quality, community, societal impact, and movement as self-expression.
The Narrative
The campaign concept reframed movement as identity, not performance. Pinterest became the bridge — a space where inspiration, intention, and community form before trends peak, allowing Athleta to participate in culture without chasing it.
I developed a first-of-its-kind “bridged pin”. This innovate use of the video pins opens the possibility of telling a larger movement story - showing true motion across our user’s board.
The Creative System
The work explored a suite of platform-native executions built entirely within Pinterest’s pin ecosystem. Using Pinterest’s forecasting tools as a strategic backbone, the system aligned content, creators, and inspiration pathways to feel timely, inclusive, and grounded in real-world community.
The multi-panel approach of a Showcase Pin is where we can show off different features of a singular product while offering links directly to their product page so users can click to purchase.
The Outcome
The exploration demonstrated a credible, scalable model for brand–platform partnership rooted in foresight rather than reaction. It reinforced confidence in how Athleta could grow cultural relevance with Gen Z while staying true to the values of its core audience.