Cool is not a KPI: Winning With Gen Z // Xanthe Wells // Pinterest

In a world where brands keep trying (and failing) to be ‘cool,’ Pinterest took a different route. I’ll take you behind the scenes of Pinterest’s dramatic two year transformation into a Gen Z magnet and a creative powerhouse in the industry. By leaning into what really matters to Gen Z - authenticity, inclusivity, and utility - Pinterest found its sweet spot by finding itself again and getting back to basics. If you’re ready to stop chasing cool and start creating meaningful connections with your audience, this talk will give you the playbook.

Xanthe is currently VP of Global Creative for Pinterest and runs the 📌House of Creative 📌under CMO Andréa Mallard. Since arriving at Pinterest in November of 2022, Xanthe has been driving the brand's creative transformation and has been responsible for a major step change in creative output and quality that has resulted in unprecedented ROI for each of the major initiatives she has led. From the 2024 Pinterest Predicts campaign and report to the Cannes Manifestival, Pinterest Presents to the best performing brand campaign in the company's history, her team’s creative output has beat all previous benchmarks and driven increased monthly active users on the platform.

Prior to Pinterest she led the Google Devices & Services Creative Team for 5 years as Global ECD. Her work spanned 5 categories in 8+ global markets for Google Pixel, Nest, Stadia, Google Fi and Google One. While in her role at Google, Xanthe led her team of 100+ creatives and producers to international recognition by many industry award shows, culminating in the Brand Side Agency of the Year in both the One Show and Art Director’s Club award shows in 2022 as well as a Grand Prix in Cannes for Real Tone on Google Pixel. The campaign also picked up the CMO Pencil for One Show, Best of Discipline, 4 Gold Pencils, 3 Gold Cubes and the D&AD Black Pencil. Google was also awarded Brand of the Year in both One Show and ADC, in large part due to the success of Real Tone as well as several other Google projects. Before becoming ECD of Google Devices & Services, Xanthe served as Global Creative Director at Nest, where she helped earn the brand some national accolades including two gold One Show pencils, two gold Andys, two gold Addy awards, FWA mentions and one bronze Cannes Lion.

Xanthe spent the formative part of her career at TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles 2006-2013 where she spent 7 years leading efforts on Pepsi, PlayStation, WaMu, Diet Pepsi, Kraft and Pinkberry rising from AD to CD. After Chiat, Xanthe went on to become CCO of Pitch, a boutique agency in LA, an agency she helped sell in 2014.

She's also been recognized in 2019 as an AdAge "Woman to Watch," in 2015 by Ad Age as one of the industry's "40 Under 40," by Business Insider as one of "30 Most Creative Women in Advertising." Outside of her job, Xanthe is co-founder of Whipshots by Cardi B,. An art director by trade, she was born and raised in the heart of San Francisco but now lives in Los Altos with her two little munchies, Charlie and Austin.