With a new campaign called “Celebrate Being Human,” Etsy is stepping away from the maker-focused ads of the past two years and going straight for the heart, reminding
consumers that as life flies by, it’s important to mark the little moments.
Filmed in natural light with real couples and families, the ad’s voiceover relentlessly counts down life’s
finite nature. It aims to shake up minds that have become numb to the flatness of social-media marketing, counting down how important these “ministones” are. If an average life only
includes 76 summers, four dog best friends, and three broken hearts, who can afford to let them fly by without notice?
The campaign, created by Orchard and voiced by its creative director
Christine Taffe, flashes on Etsy products that define those moments, like a “One Year Sober” medallion, an “Officially Divorced” T-shirt, or a key chain that looks exactly like
your dog.
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“As so much of life has become automated and impersonal, people are hungry for things that feel real, personal, and intentional,” says CMO Brad Minor in the campaign
announcement. “We see it in the way younger generations are rewriting which moments are worth celebrating, expanding beyond traditional milestones to include the smaller, imperfectly human ones
that matter just as much, sometimes even more.”
This new campaign is a direct response to that shift, Minor adds, evidenced by the rise in Gen Z’s surging interest in a
less-digital life, like hosting dinner parties and sending handwritten notes: “It’s our conviction that story, craft and human connection carry more value than convenience alone. Those
have always been the values that Etsy stands for, and there’s never been a better time in the culture to say it out loud.”
Ads will continue rolling out throughout the summer in the U.S.
and the U.K. on TV, digital, social, and creator content. Additional creative pulses will also appear, reinforcing the central theme, he notes: “Our most human moments should be celebrated with
humans.”
Etsy credits the insights driving the new work to Heather Larimer, Orchard’s executive creative director. “We focused on the adventure of a single human
lifespan,” she says in the release. “And while it’s never been easier to choose something mass-produced and cheap, it’s never been more important to choose something
human-made, original, and specific to the person buying it.”
The company, led by CEO Kruti Patel Goyal, who took the reins in January, has been looking for a path back to long-term
growth, which includes expanding how and where buyers discover the platform, connecting them with items that feel more personal and relevant, and building relationships that go beyond
transactions.
In announcing its most recent quarterly results, Etsy says it has already begun to see “solid” performance from marketing, as it continues to adjust the media mix
among owned and organic channels, paid search, and continued structural improvements in product listing ad segmentation, data feeds, and reach.
