Welcome to PINATA
It’s our great pleasure to power your field marketing and trade promotions initiatives. I’m here to help you simplify your work, analyze your data, and generally make the most of the PINATA platform. Never hesitate to reach out with questions!
— THE PINATA SUCESS TEAM
Help Topics
What is PINATA?
What is PINATA?
PINATA is a technology platform built specifically for field marketing and trade promotions. With powerful, easy-to-use software and helpful service, we make offline campaigns easier to execute, more efficient, and more measurable by bringing all your work into one centralized command center. Our mission is to help you improve ROI in the field while simplifying your day-to-day work.
Why is PINATA beneficial?
PINATA provides a consolidated command center to create, manage, and track all field activity and all associated budgets, in real time across all markets, teams, and staffing partners.
How does it work?
There’s lots of information, below, about the details. But here’s a quick summary:
During the onboarding process, our team will customize your dashboard on PINATA to support your programs.
Within a particular program, you’ll create individual activations, known on PINATA as gigs.
Post onboarding, you’ll find that your dashboard is already populated with products, accounts, and standard activation requirements, making gig-creation easier and faster. It’s easy to create a gig yourself, or you can send us an excel format schedule for us to upload on your behalf.
When you create gigs they will be assigned to your selected agency partner for staffing. The chosen agency is responsible for assigning talent, whose profiles will be visible to you.
If you are not working with an external agency to staff your gigs, you will be able to assign your own internal talent immediately after creating gigs.
The assigned talent receives his or her assignment notification, with all the information needed to be successful.
The talent will use PINATA to learn about the activation, gig check in, and collect data.
Field-report data will be visible to you in real time, as the agency verifies each activation. You can review data for individual gigs and across full programs, to identify trends and opportunities for performance improvement.
At the end of each billing period, agency invoices are consolidated by PINATA for easy review and authorization.
Accessing your dashboard
I’m new to PINATA. Where do I begin?
If you’ve already received an email invitation to your company’s dashboard on PINATA, simply click the sign-up link in your email and create an account. After doing so, you will have access to the dashboard.
If you have not received an invitation, to ensure security you must be invited by either by a company team member or PINATA admin.
I have an account. Where do I log in?
Access your PINATA Dashboard at dashboard.gopinata.com.
Pro Tip: Bookmark this page in your web browser for easy access on any device!
Working with staffing agencies
Can I work with staffing agencies on PINATA?
Yes! All activity on PINATA that is outside of your internal team activity will be executed by external agencies. PINATA is a new way to collaborate with any agency you prefer, using real-time planning tools and powerful data analytics. You can continue to work with any agency, at their standard rates, once they are set up on PINATA.
Will my agencies have to pay for this software?
No. Your company is a PINATA customer, all of your staffing partners can use PINATA for free to support your business. Our software and services also support your partners, so we’re here to help them as well!
Is my preferred agency on PINATA?
Hundreds of agencies from coast to coast are already on PINATA. When you’re getting started on PINATA, please discuss your preferred partners with your PINATA Success manager.
If your preferred partner is already on PINATA, we’ll simply connect your organizations to enable real-time collaboration. If not, fill out this quick form and get started bringing them on board.
I’d like a recommendation for a new agency. Can you help?
Gladly! We have access to hundreds of agencies nationwide, all powered by PINATA. Tell us about your specific geographic and execution needs in this quick survey, and we’d be happy to suggest some options!
Setting up a new program
What is a program on PINATA?
Simply put, a program can be any collection of activations (known as “gigs” on PINATA). Programs define what kinds of gigs you can execute, and which members of your team have access to them.
How do I set up a new program on PINATA?
We’re here to help! The PINATA Success team will work with you to set up a program that’s tailored to your budget, execution needs, and analytics requirements. When you’re getting started, we’ll discuss topics including:
Budget
Brands to be sampled
User access: Who from your team should have access to your program? Who requires regular notifications about gig status changes?
Logistical details, such as POS and expense policies (e.g. bar spend) (Note: These program-level standards are simply a template for most gigs. You’ll be able to adjust details when booking individual gigs.)
Talent role/requirements. Here is a link to our standard reporting questions.
Please use this form to get started on a new program. The PINATA Success Team will follow up with any questions.
Who can access my programs?
You choose! We can give program access to anyone on your team with a PINATA account— as well as to the appropriate external staffing agencies — so they can book gigs, approve gigs, review data, etc. We’ll set sharing permissions when you create a new program, and you can update these settings at any time.
Invoicing and payment
My program is live. What role does PINATA play in billing?
At the end of each month, PINATA consolidates bills from all active agencies and shares streamlined invoices, for your review and authorization. All invoices will tie directly to the gigs completed in that billing period on the PINATA platform, reflecting agreed-upon rates with each agency.