Starbucks News Social
Objective
Launch three new social channels — Instagram, Threads, and TikTok — in support of Starbucks’ news and storytelling initiatives. Build trust through compelling business stories rooted in facts and brand values to enhance perception, foster and inform, communicate, educate followers, and rapidly correct misinformation.
Solution
Build a design system and strategy to fit with the social media ecosystem and establish the channels as the authority for everything happening at Starbucks. Develop guidelines for static and video content, from quick news updates to planned serial content. Create consistencies in the overall Starbucks digital ecosystem, drawing elements of the design language from the About.Starbucks website, where audiences can find deeper storytelling and information.
In addition to designing the social toolkit and all ongoing static posts, I art direct and review video production from our team of content creators.
Team
Andrew Vagner, art director and designer
Vykky Howard, strategy director
Allison Arrington, strategy manager
James Seaton, strategy manager
Yobel Mengistu, strategist and content creator
Kelsie Carlos, strategist and content creator
Rachelle Askman, strategist and content creator
Jessica Dubey, video editor
Michael Ko, writer
Thanh Tan, writer
The stories of our people, passion for coffee, craft and innovation, where we’ve been and where we’re going.
The intent of the Starbucks News social channels is to engage with our audience in a way that is differentiated from other marketing channels. The channels offer deeper storytelling, education, and business updates. Design is additive and uses compelling elements like carousels, graphics, and text to draw audiences into the content.
From the design system.
A thoughtful framework keeps visual content consistent, while allowing enough space for bespoke design and unique storytelling to come through.
