How did they do it?

Pinterest has launched a new brand campaign that challenges the impact of excessive social media use, positioning itself as an alternative built to inspire real-world action. Centred on the idea that the best outcome of being online is going offline, the campaign highlights growing concerns among younger audiences about the negative effects of constant scrolling.

At the heart of the work is a 60-second film, ‘How did they do it?’, created in-house by Pinterest’s House of Creative using archival home movies and photos from employees’ family collections. The film evokes a pre-social media era, celebrating more authentic, unfiltered experiences and contrasting them with today’s screen-driven habits.

The campaign reinforces Pinterest’s broader stance on healthier digital behaviour, including public calls from CEO Bill Ready for stricter limits on youth social media use and real-world activations like a phone-free space at Coachella. Together, these efforts position Pinterest as a platform designed not to hold attention, but to redirect it toward living more fully offline.