Craft retailer Michaels focuses on Gen Z with first work from OKRP

During the height of the pandemic, interest in crafting skyrocketed as consumers under lockdown searched for new hobbies to keep them busy at home. But as the world continues to leave pandemic habits behind, craft retailer Michaels Stores is rebranding with new marketing to connect with a new breed of customers. This week, Michaels is debuting “Everything to Create Anything,” a new tagline and campaign to convince both older and younger consumers to take a fresh look at the 1,200-unit chain.

It marks Michaels’ first work from its new agency of record OKRP. The Chicago-based shop took over creative duties from R/GA earlier this year.

“There’s been a ton of transformation and innovation on the business,” said Mandy Rassi, who joined as chief marketing officer last year from Kroger. “At the same time, as we looked at where our customer was coming out of COVID and transitioning into this phase we’re in now, it felt like the right time to look at our brand right now and make sure we are relevant to our customer and where they are today.” She noted that historically, the Dallas-based chain’s customer has tended to skew older, so this new marketing is meant to appeal to Gen Z and other younger consumers who are also creative-minded.

The new tagline replaces the pre-pandemic “Made By You,” which focused on a more “core maker” consumer, Rassi said.

While Michaels is still very promotional with its offerings, the new marketing is meant to bring more creativity and storytelling into the equation beyond deals-driven advertising. Most of the new marketing stories come from new trends in consumer behavior—for example, Michaels has seen a recent spike in friendship bracelet materials following Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

“With the new campaign, we’re trying to lean into where we see trends starting to happen in the market creatively and find ways to help customers lean into those things,” Rassi said.

“This campaign is all about Michaels being the catalyst for creative ideas coming to life and encouraging people that the vision in their head is only a Michaels trip away from becoming real,” said Andrea Knowles, a creative director at OKRP.

Camelot, Michaels’ media AOR, handled media buying. The new push will include linear and connected TV, audio advertising and a heavy investment in digital media, including social media. Michaels will advertise on Pinterest, Meta and TikTok. The brand recently joined Threads, too.

The campaign follows recent news from the retailer, including the rollout of a new handmade marketplace and Etsy competitor called MakerPlace.