How Michaels is marketing its crafting brand amid rising prices

Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, check us out on Spotify and hear us on Stitcher. This is our RSS feed. Tell a friend! Even before the pandemic, Michaels, the arts and crafts retailer, was switching up its marketing strategy. In early 2020, the Irving, Texas-based chain began focusing more on the “humanity” of its brand instead of relying on deals and discounts, according to Heather Bennett, executive VP of marketing and ecommerce at Michaels. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs “Our brand really was deals—we didn’t have a brand from that standpoint,” she said about the Michaels of years past, speaking on the most recent episode of the Marketer’s Brief podcast. “What we’ve been doing is evolving that and bringing some humanity to the brand.” For example, in early 2020, Michaels began running a brand campaign called “Made By You” that it created with R/GA. Such positioning, along with highly personalized marketing messages through email and SMS focused on niche crafts such as yarn, painting and candle making, helped give the chain a boost. More than 95% of Michaels’ current email campaigns are personalized compared to just 20% in 2019, Bennett said. Now, the recent slide in the economy is prompting Bennett to take another look at Michaels' messaging. “People are becoming very value-conscious—they have to be—and they’re looking for ways to save,” she said. “We are trying to balance offering a value message without giving up on our brand—it’s great to talk about value, but we don’t want to take all the joy away from making either,” Bennett added. The chain is running social media marketing focused on both angles to optimize its ad spend, she said. At the same time, Michaels is offering free in-store crafting sessions on Sundays when consumers can come in and create their own products to take home. The brand recently ran a session around frames for Father’s Day, for example. On the podcast, Bennett also talks about Michaels’ new retail media network and how the company is connecting with younger consumers such as Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Michaels is hosting a crafting camp for 8-to-12-year-old kids this summer. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

How Michaels is marketing its crafting brand amid rising prices

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