Unless you’ve been pinned under a very heavy boulder for the last year, you’ve probably heard a little something about Pinterest.com. Let’s get something up on the board right away…Mrs. Jacob Clayton is addicted, and quite possibly on the verge of developing a severe case of “carpal pinning syndrome”. So with that in mind, it’s been a topic of conversation around the house as well. I have to say, I kinda love it too. Their website says:

“Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.”

Sounds fun but I think they sell themselves WAY too short with that description (and that explains why they quickly developed a rep as a “female-centric” hang). The problem is, they’ve been getting more and more heat from folks concerned with copyright issues, and they need to make money – so why not change the focus more to brands? I did some brainstorming in traffic last week…bring on the examples!

Let’s say I’m Rachel Zoe.

I’m running around my studio in Ferragamo pumps, all kibbyin’ out and taking digital shots of a new collection that just arrived from Milan. Then PHEW I’m pooped, gotta go! So one of my 7 assistants uploads the pics to my Pinterest “Spring 2012” board. Take it a step further and one of my other assistants can tweet out “Shut the front door – we’ve Pinned Spring 2012 Versace Couture – It’s EVERYTHING!”

Or let’s say I’m Zagat.

If you follow them on Google+ you know their photos are so amazing it’s like scratch and sniff without the scratch. So why not put up city boards? Like “Best of Boston”, Paris, etc. I remember my father actually purchasing and using real paper Zagat guides, SAY WHAT!? This would accomplish much of the same goal, I could go to the city board and pick my top spots to try.

Let’s say I’m an animal shelter.

More of a non-profit type of example, but I’ve got a thing for rescue pets if you haven’t noticed. I could pin shots of dogs and cats up for adoption, of course, and make it even more fun and pin pictures of folks picking up their pets or open up some boards and let folks post pics of their new furry friends at home.

Let’s say I’m JCrew.

I could put together look boards that coincide with my catalogs and organize them by line or style – “By the Beach”, “On the Town”, “Pinks, Greens, and Popped Collars”.

Let’s say I’m a local restaurant.

Why not take the daily “specials board” to a new level? Put some delicious looking shots up each day to make folks nice and hungry! Auto tweets and facebook posting to announce it guarantee a crowd by noon.

Let’s say you get the idea!