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Launch / CGI / Talent

Starbucks Rewards: 3, 2, 1… Stars!

To launch the Starbucks Rewards app in Romania, we put Irina Rimes in a green rocket and sent her off to collect 100 stars, then ran a CGI Starbucks train into a Bucharest metro station.

Client
Starbucks Romania (AmRest Coffee)
Brands
Starbucks Rewards
Year
2024
Markets
Romania
What we did
Strategy, Idea, Talent, CGI film, Key visuals, Metro FOOH, Social, Paid media, Creators
Talent
  • Irina RimesLaunch film and key visuals

The brief

In December 2023 Starbucks Romania briefed us on its new loyalty app, Starbucks Rewards. The app needed downloads, sign-ups and a plain explanation of the maths: scan the app every time you buy, pay however you like, and every 2 lei earns a star. 100 stars buy a drink.

We already ran Starbucks Romania’s social channels. This brief went further, down into the Bucharest metro.

The idea

A loyalty programme built on stars was asking to go to space. Our deck’s insight: Rewards members collect stars by the galaxy. So the launch became an actual launch.

We showed two routes on 23 January 2024. A week later Starbucks picked the galaxy and told us why, in Romanian:

“We chose route 2 because the Galaxy of benefits and the visual proposal won us over. It feels more coherent, more tech and closer to our Gen Z target.”

Marketing Manager, Starbucks Romania and Bulgaria

Then the rocket needed a pilot. Starbucks had two artists in mind and couldn’t choose, so they asked us. We looked at three and recommended Irina Rimes as the best fit for the concept, the Gen Z target and overall appeal. Starbucks agreed the same day, 1 February.

How it worked

The launch film

We shot Irina against a green screen on 3 March 2024 and built the rest around her in CGI.

She raises a Starbucks cup at the door of a green rocket: “Sunt gata de adunat stele!” (I’m ready to collect stars!). She presses a button marked LANSARE APLICAȚIE (app launch), lifts off over Bucharest and steers into a field of Rewards stars. The rocket swallows them while a counter climbs to 100. At 100 the stars swirl into a cup with her name on it, and Irina drinks it sitting on a green planet. End card: “3, 2, 1… STARS!”, 100 stars = 1 drink, and the two app stores.

So the film is the programme rule with a rocket attached. We delivered it in 9:16 for Instagram and TikTok and in 16:9 for YouTube, and it went live on Starbucks Romania’s channels on 29 March 2024.

The Starbucks Rewards launch film, 29 March 2024: Irina Rimes presses the launch button, flies her green rocket into the Galaxy of Rewards and collects 100 stars for one drink.
On set, 3 March 2024: Irina Rimes on the camera monitor in front of the green screen, cup in hand.
On set, 3 March 2024: Irina Rimes on the camera monitor in front of the green screen, cup in hand.

Countdown, key visuals, a free drink

The countdown started on TikTok on 26 March: “Something is cooking. Oare prin ce galaxie va merge Irina Rimes?” (Which galaxy will Irina Rimes travel through?)

After the launch, the key visuals sat Irina on her planet under the line “Strânge stele care chiar îndeplinesc dorințe” (collect stars that actually make wishes come true), and a carousel spelled out the three steps. New members got a free drink until 15 April, and paid media on Meta, TikTok, YouTube and Google pushed the download.

Key visual with Irina Rimes on a green planet: "Strânge stele care chiar îndeplinesc dorințe" (collect stars that actually make wishes come true).
Key visual with Irina Rimes on a green planet: "Strânge stele care chiar îndeplinesc dorințe" (collect stars that actually make wishes come true).
The mechanic in three steps: install the app and order, scan the QR code and pay, collect stars and win your favourite drinks.
The mechanic in three steps: install the app and order, scan the QR code and pay, collect stars and win your favourite drinks.

Next station: Starbucks

On 9 April we filmed real plates in Piața Victoriei metro station. The clip we posted on 10 May starts like any phone video of a platform. Then the lights flicker, the tunnel fills with stars and a green Starbucks train glides in, spilling cups. The caption borrowed the announcer’s voice: “Urmează stația Starbucks Romania cu peronul pe partea recompenselor.” (Next station: Starbucks Romania, platform on the rewards side.)

Metro FOOH, 10 May 2024: the lights flicker in Piața Victoriei metro station in Bucharest and a green Starbucks train pulls in through a starry tunnel, spilling stars and cups.

In June, creators from our shortlist each explained one benefit on their own Instagram, in their own format.

Results

Within hours of the launch, people were already signing up in the app.

1.2MTikTok plays for the launch film, plus 4,564 likes on Instagram
1.2MTikTok plays for the metro clip, and 410K+ accounts reached on Instagram
798.1KTikTok plays for the free-drink video “Știai că până la stele sunt doar 3 pași?” (did you know the stars are only 3 steps away?)
302.6KTikTok plays for the countdown teaser
+65.9%content interactions on Starbucks Romania’s Instagram in March versus February
24.7%of the accounts that engaged that month came organically after the Irina Rimes collab

In August 2024 AmRest briefed us on its Holiday 2024 campaign for eight markets. The email said why:

“We loved your previous work: PSL, Rewards, so we thought there’s no better team to take this challenge!”

Communication & PR Manager, AmRest (Starbucks)

Credits

  • Client: Starbucks Romania (AmRest Coffee)
  • Agency: Tuio

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