When Starbucks entered the ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee market in Europe, it was relatively under developed with low consumer penetration.

The brand instantly became one of the biggest players in the category but growth was constrained by its siting in the supermarket milk aisle rather than in the on-the-go aisles where more popular soft drink and snacking brands were positioned.

This impacted the understanding of the role that chilled coffee could play in consumers’ lives which further exacerbated the problem.

Over a four-year period, Space helped Starbucks address this problem, drive significant growth across its RTD product range and, ultimately, establish category leadership.

With Starbucks securing a more advantageous in-store siting, we set about creating a series of shopper-first campaigns across grocery, convenience and e-commerce to support their three RTD platforms (Chilled Classics, Doubleshot and Frappacino). And, to aid consumer understanding of the range and the role of the individual products, audiences were targeted in their moment of need through a combination of OOH, digital, influencer and brand experiences.

Driving awareness and trial of the Starbucks RTD range was key especially given the number of on-going new product launches. And, with a strong 75% trial to conversion rate, putting product in hand via a series of innovative brand experiences was critical to success. Launching their first ever non-coffee chilled drink, chocolate, we created a magnificent chocolate sculpture of the brand icon, the siren, in Westfield and offered consumers a personalised chocolate bar.