To win back customers after bankruptcy, Sears wants to make strengths from its heyday relevant to today’s shoppers.

Peter Boutros, chief brand officer of Sears and Kmart and president of the Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard brands, said he thought of it as going “back to the future.”

“What were we good at? What is relevant from our history today? And the thing we were good at was making moments matter,” he said.

That idea — “making moments matter” — will be part of Sears’ new branding and marketing campaign after its former CEO, Edward Lampert, bought the Hoffman Estates-based company out of bankruptcy in February with a $5.2 billion bid and plans to rebuild around smaller stores and strengths in categories like appliances. The first three of those stores are expected to open in early May.

But some analysts were skeptical, saying that even with healthier finances after bankruptcy, the question is whether the company has the time and resources to pull off a turnaround.

Now that Sears is trying to move forward, it’s “critical” for it to get the message out to consumers more accustomed to hearing about its bankruptcy and uncertain future, said Neil Stern, senior partner at Chicago-based consulting firm McMillanDoolittle.

“Mission number one for Sears is to explain to customers that they’re still here,” he said.

The “making moments matter” branding will appear on new signs in stores and advertisements on local T.V. in certain markets and in social media, circulars and billboards, as well as email and text communications with shoppers, Boutros said. Kmart’s slogan will be “love where you live.”

Both were created in house, unlike earlier campaigns like “There’s more for your life with Sears,” developed with Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and “Good life, great price,” developed with Young & Rubicam.

The company “didn’t have the luxury” of using outside agencies, but Boutros said he is proud of its work.

“In our previous life we could have used consultants and got the same result as we got from our own talent in Hoffman Estates,” he said.

Some past Sears ad taglines

"You can count on Sears."

"Sears has everything."

"There's more for your life at Sears."

"Come see the softer side of Sears."

"Get the good life at a great price at Sears. Guaranteed."

"Sears. Where else?"

"Good life, great price."

The company declined to say how much it’s spending on the campaign, but said it’s enough to make shoppers aware Sears and Kmart are open for business.

The size of the investment and extent to which it can get that message to sink in likely matters more than the words themselves, Stern said.

Although “making moments matter” and “love where you live” will be used in advertisements, Boutros said they are “brand mantras” that will guide what Sears and Kmart stand for.

READ MORE: A leaner Sears emerges from bankruptcy, but can it survive? »

Sears will be focusing on two core groups of customers: baby boomers who grew up trusting Sears and just need to be won back, and young families who might be first-time shoppers.

Products will be targeted to appeal to those groups, like back-to-school clothing, baby and pet products for young families, and home items for boomers who might be downsizing or upgrading long-owned appliances, Boutros said.

While shoppers tend to see Sears as a destination for big-ticket home items, Kmart customers tend to shop more frequently for everyday purchases, and the company wants stores to feel more connected to their communities, Boutros said.

Sears is also getting ready to open the first batch of new, smaller stores focused on appliances, mattresses and home services, called Sears Home + Life. Boutros described them as an updated version of earlier experiments with smaller, appliance-centric stores.

The first three are scheduled to open in Louisiana, Alaska and Kansas in early May. Boutros said they are planning to add more, but declined to say how many or when they may open.

The Home + Life stores aren’t intended to replace Sears’ full-size department stores, but give the company a way to get back into communities where it no longer has stores. The company has shuttered more than 1,000 Sears and Kmart locations since January 2016. It exited bankruptcy with 223 Sears and 202 Kmart stores, nearly half of which are in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and Puerto Rico, according to court filings.

Sears is also continuing to expand its best-known brands. The company plans to introduce lawn, garden and camping products under its DieHard brand, which has traditionally focused on auto products, Boutros said. Sears already makes lawn and garden products under the Craftsman brand, which the retailer sold to Stanley Black & Decker, but Boutros said the DieHard products aren’t meant to replace Craftsman’s.

And unlike other retailers focused on growing house brands available only at their stores, Sears is continuing to try to expand both the Kenmore and DieHard brands’ presence outside its stores. The retailer has already begun selling products from both brands on Amazon.

Boutros said broader reach raises awareness and could bring customers back to Sears.

READ MORE: Rise, fall and restructuring of a Chicago icon: More than 130 years of Sears »

But it also risks giving customers one less reason to come to Sears, said Michael Brown, a partner in the consumer and retail practice of global management consultant A.T. Kearney.

Particularly at the new stores focused on appliances, “it’s not clear right now...how they will differentiate themselves,” Brown said.