Pinterest's first ad spot is all beauty, no tech

This article has been updated to reflect that the video in question was first released in April on Pinterest’s blog. 

Pinterest showed its first commercial today at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity — an advertising, marketing, and design conference that kicked off on Sunday.

The minute-long commercial showed how people use Pinterest to plan vacations and weddings, inspire DIY projects, and as a catalyst for new workout regimens. Pinterest originally released the ad in April to promote its “Guided Search” function, which helps users sift through pins to find exactly what they’re looking for.

The ad portrays Pinterest as a search-engine for fostering creativity rather than answering everyday questions like Google. In fact, Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann repeatedly contrasted Google with Pinterest in a keynote presentation at the festival today, says the Wall Street Journal Digits blog. “Google is the ultimate card catalog,” Silbermann said. The search engine can help you answer questions about the weather and how to get somewhere, but can it tell you what to wear to your best friend’s wedding? “Google only gives you an objective lists of results,” he said. Pinterest, on the other hand, is a database of images and ideas, so you can come to your own conclusions.

Silbermann refers to users as “curators,” painting the picture of a company more aligned with art and beauty than with Silicon Valley tech. A spokesperson for Pinterest says they have no interest in paying to have the video placed somewhere. Meanwhile, Pinterest’s internal ad network is coming to fruition.