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Try out campaign objective type simplification

We are rolling out an update to simplify campaign objective types, making it easier to leverage product catalogs along with standard creative across a wider range of conversion goals.
You should have received an email from the Pinterest team about this change, which involves migration to improved campaign objective logic and will require you to take actions.

What has changed as of now?

We are deprecating
WEB_CONVERSION
and
CATALOG_SALES
objectives, and introducing two objectives to take on their functionality:
  • The
    SALES
    objective optimizes toward transactional conversion events, such as
    add_to_cart
    and
    checkout
    .
  • The
    LEADS
    objective optimizes toward non-transactional conversion events, such as
    signup
    and
    lead
    .
To signal your use of this objective type simplification, we are introducing an optional
intended_promotion_type
parameter, which allows you to create ads derived from either Pins or Product Group Promotions under the
SALES
and
CONSIDERATION
objectives.
For these campaigns, you can create catalog-based promotions under the ad group level by referencing the ad group ID and the relevant catalog/product group identifiers.
The
WEB_CONVERSION
and
CATALOG_SALES
objectives remain available for legacy campaigns, supporting both transactional and non-transactional outcomes until February 1, 2027. See the timeline of milestones.

Start testing these changes

You can try out creating campaigns with the
SALES
objective type and
intended_promotion_type parameter
in Pinterest Sandbox:

Step 1: Generate a Sandbox token using one of the following methods.

You can use one of two methods to generate the token:

Generate a token in your app management tab

  1. Go to My app and click Manage for the app that you want to use.
  2. On the app page, under Generate Access Tokens, select Sandbox.
  3. Click Generate token.
  4. Copy the generated token to use in your API requests.
Mint Sandbox token

Generate a token using the OAuth flow

Use this method if you want to continuously refresh the token for long-term testing:
POST
Generate OAuth access token
When calling the Generate OAuth access token endpoint, you insert
-sandbox
in the URL request path as in the following example:
curl -X POST https://api-sandbox.pinterest.com/v5/oauth/token \
See the full guide for generating an access token using the OAuth flow.

Step 2: Use objective type simplification features in Sandbox

Relevant endpoints:
POST
Create campaigns
PATCH
Update campaigns
When calling the relevant endpoints, insert
-sandbox
in the URL request path:
curl -X POST https://api-sandbox.pinterest.com/v5/ad_accounts/{ad_account_id}/campaigns --header 'Content-Type: application/json' --header 'Authorization: Bearer [SANDBOX-TOKEN]'
Learn more about using Sandbox.

Parameters relevant to objective simplifcation changes

Any parameters and code examples that appear in this section support this use case, but may not represent the full endpoint specification. See the endpoint reference page for the comprehensive spec.
Any parameters and code examples that appear in this section support this use case, but may not represent the full endpoint specification. See the endpoint reference page for the comprehensive spec.
Objective type simplification parameters
ParameterDescriptionValid inputs
objective_type

non-nullable string
Required
Intended result of the campaign.
You can only update objectives for draft campaigns.
AWARENESS

CONSIDERATION

VIDEO_COMPLETION

SALES
(Currently only supported in Sandbox)
LEADS
(Currently only supported in Sandbox)
CATALOG_SALES
(Deprecated)
WEB_CONVERSION
(Deprecated)
WEB_SESSIONS
(Deprecated)
VIDEO_VIEW
(Deprecated; use
VIDEO_COMPLETION
as an alternative.)
intended_promotion_type

non-nullable string
Optional but necessary for this use case
Currently only supported in Sandbox
Signals your use of the objective type simplification and create ads derived from either Pins or product groups under the
SALES
and
CONSIDERATION
objectives.
You can only update this parameter for draft campaigns.
If you do not pass this parameter, the default is:
  • LEGACY
    for
    CATALOG_SALES
    and
    WEB_CONVERSION
  • STANDARD_AD
    for other objective types
Some default values will change at on February 1, 2027 (See following table).
STANDARD_AD
  • For ads derived from Pins.
  • Supported for all objective types except for current
    CATALOG_SALES
    , which is being deprecated.
CATALOG
  • For creating product group promotions.
  • Supported for
    CONSIDERATION
    and
    SALES
    objective types.
LEGACY
  • Intended only for maintaining backward compatibility with these objective types:
  • Must be used for
    CATALOG_SALES
    .
  • Supported for
    WEB_CONVERSION
    objective type.

Allowed and default values for intended_promotion_type

Changing defaults
Objective
intended_promotion_type

allowed value(s)
intended_promotion_type

current default
intended_promotion_type

default after February 1, 2027
AWARENESS
STANDARD_AD
STANDARD_AD
STANDARD_AD
CONSIDERATION
STANDARD_AD
CATALOG
STANDARD_AD
STANDARD_AD
WEB_CONVERSION
STANDARD_AD
LEGACY
LEGACY
Creation disabled
SALES
STANDARD_AD
CATALOG
STANDARD_AD
STANDARD_AD
LEADS
STANDARD_AD
CATALOG
STANDARD_AD
STANDARD_AD
CATALOG_SALES
LEGACY
LEGACY
Creation disabled
VIDEO_COMPLETION
STANDARD_AD
STANDARD_AD
STANDARD_AD
APP_INSTALL
STANDARD_AD
STANDARD_AD
STANDARD_AD

Example request

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api-sandbox.pinterest.com/v5/ad_accounts/123456789012/campaigns \
  --header 'authorization: Bearer pina_ABCD1234...' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data '[
  {
    "name": "Example campaign",
    "daily_spend_cap": 500000000,
    "is_campaign_budget_optimization": true,
    "is_flexible_daily_budgets": true,
    "objective_type": "LEADS",
    "intended_promotion_type": "STANDARD_AD",
    "is_performance_plus": false,
    "is_top_of_search": false
  }
]'

Example response

{
  "items": [
    {
      "data": {
        "id": "626747269410",
        "ad_account_id": "123456789012",
        "name": "Example campaign",
        "objective_type": "LEADS",
        "lifetime_spend_cap": 0,
        "daily_spend_cap": 500000000,
        "order_line_id": null,
        "tracking_urls": null,
        "is_flexible_daily_budgets": true,
        "default_ad_group_budget_in_micro_currency": null,
        "is_automated_campaign": false,
        "created_time": 1778794803,
        "updated_time": 1778794803,
        "type": "campaign",
        "summary_status": "RUNNING",
        "is_campaign_budget_optimization": true,
        "start_time": 1778794803,
        "end_time": null,
        "is_performance_plus": false,
        "is_top_of_search": false,
        "bid_options": null,
        "ext_features": null,
        "status": "ACTIVE",
        "intended_promotion_type": "STANDARD_AD"
      },
      "exceptions": []
    }
  ]
}

Timeline of objective simplification milestones:

Dates are subject to change as we work to ensure a smooth transition for our partners. We will post any updates.

Right now

During this period, you can continue to use the
CATALOG_SALES
campaign and
WEB_CONVERSION
campaigns optimized for
add_to_cart
or
checkout
.
We recommend that you get familiar with the following changes in Sandbox:
  • Update
    CATALOG_SALES
    campaigns to
    SALES
    or
    CONSIDERATION
    objectives.
  • Update
    WEB_CONVERSION
    campaigns that optimize for
    checkout
    or
    add_to_cart
    events to the
    SALES
    objective.
  • Update
    WEB_CONVERSION
    campaigns that optimize for non-transactional conversion events, such as
    signup
    and
    lead
    , to the
    LEADS
    objective.

As of June 15, 2026

  • If you use Ads Manager to create campaigns for
    CATALOG_SALES
    , or
    WEB_CONVERSION
    campaigns optimized for
    add_to_cart
    or
    checkout
    , the new objectives logic will be available in Ads Manager.
  • Any campaigns created through the API as of this milestone and using the pre-simplified objective logic can still be edited in Ads Manager if required. However, we highly recommended for consistency that you start switching over to the new objective types once Ads Manager changes are released.
  • You will be able to start using the
    SALES
    and
    LEADS
    objective types and
    intended_promotion_type
    parameter in production.

As of February 1, 2027

  • You will no longer be able to create new
    CATALOG_SALES
    campaigns or
    WEB_CONVERSION
    campaigns optimized for
    add_to_cart
    or
    checkout
    through the API.
  • You will be able to update and continue running any campaigns that were created with these objectives before February 1, 2027.

As of April 30, 2027

We will archive campaigns with
CATALOG_SALES
and
WEB_CONVERSION
objectives.

Get help

If you have any questions or need help during the migration process, please reach out to your Sales or Business Development Partner, or submit a Support request:
  1. Go to Get more help in the Help Center.
  2. Under Pinterest API and Developer Tools, select API Technical Support and click Continue.
  3. On the next page, select Pinterest API v5 and click Continue.
  4. Provide requested information.
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