An interesting article on the famous Italian fashion house Gucci using banner ads in collaboration with Pinterest.
Indeed, banner ads are an integral part of the digital marketing strategy, as it represents a targeted marketing tool, forcing media agencies to offer qualified traffic. As commented in the article by Scott Delea, managing partner at Inflexion Interactive, “Using banner ads to pin product images to personal Pinterest pages is an ideal way to make paid media work harder and turn banner clicks into earned social media,” [...] “An extra bonus is the ability to track and measure the results."
Gucci aim, in particular, is to reach new customers, leveraging Pinterest customer base:

“The premise is that Gucci will be able to reach new customers by connecting its banner ads with existing users of Pinterest,”
Personally, I think, despite Pinterest success, a brand like Gucci should be very careful in looking for new customers through a third media, and should control how the process evolves to avoid distortion and any attempt to exploit the brand over the limits of a sane brand awareness campaign, to avoid it to revolve against the brand essence.

And here the link:
http://www.luxurydaily.com/gucci-goes-for-pinterest-hits-via-digital-banner-ads/