copy & illustration
brand starbucks
copywriter myself
designer jordan kay
acds carole guizetti & austin tott
it’s a video world out there, but my talented creative partner, jordan kay, and i made starbucks stood out with charming illustrations. from product-focused functional posts to emotional “we see you” moments, this content brought a level of warmth and personality to feeds that look more identical by the day.
scroll below for some of our greatest hits
zodiac series
the task: starbucks fans love zodiac content, but after years of pairing guides we opted to flip the script with a year-long series making the customers the focus, rather than our beverages.
the work: each season we released a three-frame carousel highlighting how to spot zodiac signs, hitting that sweet spot of content that was clearly and uniquely starbucks without being overtly promotional. my extensive research (aka lots of browsing cosmo and astrology blogs) paid off, because the comments were full of folks chiming in saying “that’s so me,” tagging friends or begging to see their sign next.
coffee stories
the task: starbucks commitment to craft is what what sets it apart from other large coffee brands, but educational posts historically feel below performance benchmarks. to combat this, we used playful illustrations with skimmable copy to bring some lightness to otherwise “boring” content.
the work: we used a treasure map motif to tell the coffee souring story, showing the care and attention that goes into each step of the process. we also created a coffee tasting comic, which not only taught our customers something new, but reenforced the idea that starbucks takes their coffee seriously is about more than sugary drinks.
we see you
the task: show our customers we pay attention to what’s important to them and provide moments of celebration and connection. my challenge was make content that felt authentically starbucks, without feeling like an ad.
the work: we’d call this type of content “we see you” moments. rather than focusing primarily on a product, these pieces combined seasonal touchstones (halloween, hibernation season) and customer insights (crafting boom, rise of booktok/bookstagram) with a special brand twist (starbucks drinks and imagery). “we see you” posts consistently received high engagement, especially comments and sends.
illustration by audrey kelly
