Simple Pin Podcast: Simple ways to boost your business using Pinterest · Kate Ahl

An interview with the mastermind behind Pinterest Predicts 2026

January 6, 2026·36 min·3 clips

Sydney Stanbeck reveals how Pinterest's team spends a year predicting 2026 trends with an 88% success rate.

1. Simple Pin Podcast, in its tenth year of covering Pinterest, presents an interview with Sydney Stanbeck, Trends and Insights Lead at Pinterest, about the creation of Pinterest Predicts 2026. 2. Sydney Stanbeck has worked on Pinterest Predicts since its 2020 launch and describes her role as sitting at 'the intersection of cultural curiosity and creativity,' interpreting signals from approximately 500 million users. 3. The episode's core thesis is that Pinterest Predicts works because Pinterest is a future-forward planning platform—users are intentional about what they save and search—giving the report a structural predictive edge over reflective year-end trend reports. 4. Sydney explains that Pinterest Predicts was conceived in 2020 as an alternative to wrapped year-end reports, with the explicit goal of surfacing trends that are 'not yet trending' and giving brands and businesses a head start. 5. The methodology combines machine learning analysis of search patterns and visual cues—colors, materials, and aesthetics—with human curation through a three-day annual event called Insights Making Week, held each August. 6. Insights Making Week involves cross-functional Pinterest strategists working in category rooms (food, parenting, and others) to debate what the data shows is emerging; Sydney describes her role as moderator, validating strong individual instincts against first-party data. 7. In 2026, Pinterest used generative AI for the first time to build a trend benchmark from all previous years' learnings, rating trends by consumer resonance, advertiser appeal, and global relevance—though human editors made all final decisions. 8. The 2026 report contains 21 predictions; Sydney says she would recommend brands identify a few relevant to their audience rather than trying to act on all 21. 9. Cabbage Crush is Sydney's favorite and most surprising 2026 prediction: it emerged from the food and beverage room and she initially doubted it, but the breadth of global search terms and the vegetable's culinary diversity across Korean, South African, and UK cuisines convinced her it was durable. 10. Sydney compares the Cabbage Crush surprise to Pickle Fix from 2025, another unexpected food trend that succeeded; she notes 'rat cake' from the 2025 Chaos Cakes trend as her most unexpected single search term discovery. 11. Throwback Kid is highlighted as a prediction driven primarily by Boomers and Gen X, tracking how parents and grandparents are blending childhood nostalgia with the modern thrifting movement—buying vintage toys and vintage clothing for children—extending thrifting beyond fashion for the first time. 12. Sydney notes that the Throwback Kid trend emerged from the parenting room at Insights Making Week, where many participants were parents themselves, and that as millennials and Gen Zers now have children, the trend is expected to scale further. 13. Pinterest Predicts has achieved an 88% accuracy rate over six years, which Sydney attributes to the intentional, future-oriented way people use Pinterest compared to passive social media consumption. 14. Chaos Cakes from 2025 is cited as a prediction that was adopted but evolved differently than expected—becoming more personal and identity-expressive in baking rather than purely chaotic—illustrating how trends can be accurate but develop in unexpected directions. 15. Sydney's team uses the first half of each year for research and development on the methodology, planning for the next report, and commissioning new research; the 2026 report includes a new consumer sentiment survey about how people feel heading into the year to add 'why' to the platform's 'what.' 16. The global relevance of each prediction is a stated priority: international stakeholders participate in the process, and the final keyword sets are checked for adoption signals across multiple countries and regions. 17. Sydney describes trend adoption as globally variable: Cabbage Crush, for example, will look different in Korea than in South Africa or the United Kingdom, and the team monitors these variations as the year progresses. 18. The interview is conversational and fan-forward; host Kate frames the discussion as going behind the corporate surface of the report to understand the human labor and debate that produces it, and the episode was created in partnership with Pinterest as part of the educator program. 19. Pinterest marketers, content creators, and small business owners looking to understand the strategic research process behind Pinterest Predicts and how to apply it to their marketing will find this interview directly useful. 20. Listeners with no Pinterest presence or interest in social media trend forecasting will find little actionable content here.

As heard by us

A backstage look at how Pinterest turns trend data into practical signals for business.

Pinterest opens 2026 with a backstage look at Pinterest Predicts 2026, and Sydney Stanbeck makes the report feel less like a corporate document and more like a working idea file.

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Hear how Pinterest Predicts 2026 comes together behind the scenes with Sydney Stanbeck.

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