With 135 stores, A.C. Moore was the little guy in the crafts market. For years, the company had used its size as an advantage, positioning itself as the company that cared. In the midst of rapid growth, though, A.C. Moore was struggling to maintain this image. This is where Making Headlines came in.

 

Focusing on the value A.C. Moore shared with its customers—that crafting brings people together through creativity-- Making Headlines conceived a national program to connect local stores to their customers. The program was strategically designed to give crafters a way to impact their community by sharing what they enjoy most.

 

Each quarter A.C. Moore would partner with a national nonprofit with chapters in the communities it served. It started with Boys & Girls Club of America, known as “The Positive Place for Kids,” and serving 4.4 million children at 4,300 clubs across the country—a strong match for moms, A.C. Moore’s primary customer.

 

The program, Crafting a Better World, launched to celebrate A.C. Moore’s 24th anniversary. Every A.C. Moore store hosted an anniversary celebration crafting party for members of its local Boys & Girls Club, creating a ready-made photo op for media relations and social media.

 

Customers were encouraged to drop off craft supply donations at their local A.C. Moore store and invited to add $1 to their bill at check out for donation to the nonprofit.

 

A.C. Moore sweetened the pot and created friendly competition by promising an additional donation on behalf of the store that raised the most money.

 

Over the course of the month-long Crafting the World kick-off, A.C. Moore customers gave more than $60,000 for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Over the life of the program, A.C. Moore raised more than $1.5 million. 

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The multi-pronged program was built to provide local community engagement and media relations and social media content, while creating opportunities for youth in need to increase their interaction with arts and crafts

 

Key to the program’s success was collaboration with the nonprofit recipient to ensure A.C.Moore was filling a genuine need. Said a Boys & Girls Club representative: “Arts and crafts is a key component to all our local clubs, but maintaining a variety of necessary supplies has been a problem. The parties will give hands-on opportunities for our members to become excited about crafting and the supply donation will help us keep them crafting."

 

According to A.C. Moore, Crafting the World was "an ideal fit that took our community relations to the next level."