by you,
for you.
michaels
an integrated campaign for michaels that reframes handmade creations as the antitode to AI-fatigue.
problem.
people aren't lacking creative desire; they're stuck in a cycle of passive consumption. years of scrolling through perfectly curated, AI-generated content has made them think that their own attempts at creating won't measure up.
CLIENT
michaels (student project)
Duration
4 weeks / 2026
Service Type
user research, advertising and branding.
insight.
in a world where AI can generate anything, people want to make something that could only have come from them. not because they think it looks better, but because it’s irreversibly theirs.
strategy.
position michaels as the inspiration to stop watching and start creating. the brand doesn't tell its audience to be better; they remind them that whatever their hands make is uniquely, unapologetically theirs.
the hero film behind the 'by you, for you' campaign.
key facts and figures.
18-34
+136%
72%
+329%
Core Age GROUP
GAIN IN ANALOG HOBBY SEARCH
USED CRAFTING TO SAVE MONEY
PaINT PARTY KIT SEARCHES YOY.
not connected by age, but by a shared state of mind. they have the creative desire, but what’s stopping them is the quiet belief that their attempts won't measure up to what they've been consuming online.
over six months. people want to create not only out of boredom, but because they want to say they made their creations themselves.
in the past year (2025).
not only do people want to create; they want to create together.
campaign assets.
01. OOH placements.
a series of split billboards and street-level posters that place the campaign's central message in the physical world: no machine can recreate your masterpiece.
02. social tutorials.
a series of simple IG carousel tutorials that exist in the feeds where passive consumption already happens. it meets the audience right where they're watching and gives them the one thing their socials never do: permission to make something imperfect.
03. the makers series.
an episodic social series following real creatives through their processes and passions. built to inspire viewers and to showcase the imperfect yet irreplaceable works of the spotlighted artists.
04. 'maker monument' experience.
a traveling communal installation where participants add to a collective sculpture using michaels materials, growing into a collaborative art piece of everything that gets made when people finally stop questioning themselves and start creating.
OOH posters.
ad spot.
05. microsite.
a digital home for the entire campaign where visitors can look at others' creations or potentially see their own, find more in-depth craft tutorials, watch the entirety of the makers series, locate the nearest maker monument event, and learn more about the heart of the campaign: no machine can recreate your masterpiece.