2020 Advertising Strategy

2020 ADVERTISING STRATEGY W H A T T O E X P E C T EXECUTIVE 04 SUMMARY 05 SITUATION ANALYSIS 21 KEY INSIGHTS 22 BIG IDEA CREATIVE 23 EXECUTION 26 MEDIA IDEAS MEASUREMENT & 27 FUTURE RECCOMENDATIONS Our Team T H E A W E S O M E P E O P L E B E H I N D T H I S P R O J E C T R O B Y N A R C H E R R A N I C H A N P E T E R N O R T H F E L T C H R I S T I N E L I U SHE/HER/HERS SHE/HER/HERS HE/HIM/HIS SHE/HER/HERS Robyn Archer Peter Northfelt Robyn is a brand strategist with almost three Peter is an aspiring brand strategist and years of agency experience. She is working to advertising researcher, graduating from UT finish her master's degree at the University of Austin’s master’s in advertising program in Texas at Austin and will graduate in May May 2020. His experience and expertise 2020. She tells too many dad jokes and she ranges from travel research to QSR brands, can whip out a random, fun-fact about almost sports media to experimental storytelling and any subject. Robyn aspires to be the CEO of creative brand strategy. He’s planning a move an advertising agency in the future. to Los Angeles with his partner and cat, Tex. Rani Chan Christine Liu Rani is an aspiring brand strategist, a food Christine is passionate for creative strategies. enthusiast, and a fashionista at heart. She She is always finding ways to connect brands specializes in market research, consumer and consumers meaningfully in hope to solve behavior, and social media marketing. She social issues. She values life experience and was born and raised in the Philippines and looks for the smallest enjoyment in life. She will be graduating from UT Austin with a would one day want to travel around the Master’s degree in Advertising in May 2020. If world to try all the food. she is 0no7t busy learning new cultural trends, she is watching Broadway musicals and cooking new and home recipes. Executive Summary Nobody’s born creative. But Michaels’ audiences are the crafters, the ideators, the makers, and the inspired. They’re passionate about brands that are online, in their lives, and most importantly take a stand on everyday issues such as diversity and inclusion. The Big Idea: “Create it yourself” Our campaign celebrates makers in bold storytelling and activations in hot markets across the United States. We also propose a seamless digital and brick-and-mortar integration so that it’s easier than ever to go from digital to in- person and back again for Michaels makers. While makers have a variety of companies to buy supplies from, Michaels is a brand that supports and inspires more than any other. Company Objectives Get Makers to come back to Michaels Bring our new community-first strategy and brand purpose to life Make Michaels a loved brand 2020 ADVERTISING STRATEGY / PAGE 4 Situational Analysis In order to understand the problem, we looked at Michaels from four different angles. Company Competition Who are we? What are we up against? Consumer Culture Who are we What's going on? talking to? 2020 ADVERTISING STRATEGY / PAGE 5 C O M P A N Y P R O F I L E The Michaels Companies Inc. stands as the largest arts and crafts specialty retailer in North America, with over 1,200 stores across 49 U.S. states and Canada. They serve to be a one-stop supplies shop for a wide range of craft supplies and interior decorations. Being physically ever- present in people’s neighborhoods with all their craft needs makes accessibility and convenience some of Michaels’ key strengths. Michaels puts creativity at its core, from holding Community Classrooms to teach a variety of craft skills, to starting the viral #MichaelsChallenge on social media back in 2018. They are also historically customer-centric by tailoring products and services according to value and customer demand by providing reasonable prices and weekly sales for their products. They have reached audiences digitally through their app, social media channels, and website. Moreover, in 2018, Michaels partnered with Salesforce to deploy the Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which would enable personalized content, promotions and offers to Michaels customers. Among other arts and crafts specialty providers, they have been a leader in offering advanced craft making technological tools and services through its subsidiaries Aaron Brothers Custom Framing, Artistree, and Darice, and vendors like Cricut. A major strength of Michaels is that they root themselves in diversity and inclusion (D&I) both internally and externally. The company has their own D&I communication committee that works to integrate diversity and inclusion within company communications, programs, and strategies. They have resource groups and other training programs for their employees that support different interests, such as the Women Inclusion Network program, and consequently increase D&I in the workplace. Michaels has also publicly stood by their belief that “[they] are a company that is truly rooted in diversity and inclusion. [They] have a firm belief here that anyone can make thread, and anyone should have the ability to be creative and express themselves, regardless of race, sex, gender, or other characteristics.” This is evident in their most recent participation in the “Open to All” nationwide campaign, where businesses and other organizations open their doors to all customers and pledge to ensure and maintain a safe and welcoming environment for their employees, vendors, and other constituents, regardless of personal characteristics (e.g. religion, race, gender identity, disability, etc.). C O M P A N Y P R O F I L E “It was important for us as a company to make it known and be a leader in the space when it comes to protecting people, whether our customers or team members, from discrimination, and making sure we are a clear advocate for diversity and inclusion. Those are policies we really lean into, from our CEO on down." - Mallory Smith, Public Relations Manager for Michaels The strengths of Michaels may often be overshadowed by some prominent concerns. First, Michaels had a late start into the e-commerce market, only officially entering the game in 2014. Consequently, Michaels took a major hit in 2016, meeting declining sales and market shares. Today, even after Michaels caught up with digital sales and have been increasing their product assortment online, e-commerce represents only a small portion of their sales (4% of their $5.2 billion sales in 2018). Thus, there is an opportunity to take further advantage of e-commerce as Michaels’ key competitors (i.e. Amazon) continue to thrive with increasing online revenue. Another major concern of Michaels is that despite Michaels’ firm belief in diversity and inclusion, Michaels often misses this in their marketing strategies, particularly their advertisements. Their TV spots typically show white parents and children, if they show people at all. In the very few occasions that they feature people of color, the imagery becomes more a token representation of minority groups. Furthermore, as today’s society becomes more oriented towards storytelling in ads, Michaels still lacks narratives in their TV spots. Instead, Michaels heavily focuses on sales promotions, which loses the opportunity to connect with their audience at a deeper level. Finally, despite having different business practices compared to their direct competitors like Hobby Lobby, particularly on D&I, people oftentimes perceive Michaels to be similar to Hobby Lobby in having a conservative point of view, which could negatively affect brand attitude towards Michaels and their sales. Michaels needs to be bolder in positioning themselves as aesthetically and personally distinct from Hobby Lobby and their other competitors. I N T E R V I E W I N S I G H T S After conducting over 50 interviews with consumers we found that over half of our audience feels that Michaels and Hobby Lobby are difficult to distinguish one from the other. From those that can identify the differences, Michaels is the more favorable brand, not because they prefer Michaels but because of Hobby Lobby's company views. One customer, Mingo Villarreal said, "I love Michaels because even if I don't know what I want or what I should get, the staff always makes me feel like I don't have to know. They are super helpful and understand my needs without making me feel small." 2020 ADVERTISING STRATEGY / PAGE 7 IF MICHAELS WERE A PERSON We asked 30 respondents the question, "If Michaels were a person, how would you describe them?" Below are a few of the responses we received. "He's the guy who tries to fit in with all different groups but hasn’t found one that he’s accepted in." ”A guy with custom, wooden framed glasses, a custom- designed polo and dark jeans with leather dress shoes. Personality would be helpful as fuck. Definitely a Taurus. Creative af and probably a mommy’s boy. He would give very thoughtful and sentimental gifts and would likely be vegan.” “Male who dresses quirky/preppy (tailored flood pants, oxfords, crazy printed socks, floral and collard shirts), friendly, 30s-40s, homosexual, petite but built frame, but shorter and not super buff. Majored in interior design with an art history background. Outgoing but not in an adventurous way. Not a backpacker but more in the social way. Likes routine, precision and comfort.

Load more