Starbucks ‘Sip on Sunshine’
A Summer Retail Media Success Story
Key Insights
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new customers and +12% uplift for the milk-based drinks category
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uplift from connecting digital and in-store touchpoints in one omnichannel campaign
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more new customers and 18% brand uplift for Starbucks RTD
Case Study Nominated For:
The Brief
Summer is the most competitive season for chilled drinks, with high demand but low brand loyalty. Arla, launching Starbucks’ limited-edition ‘Sip on Sunshine’ Frappuccino, needed to make a major impact in a crowded market. The campaign required a connected customer journey that would not only drive awareness but also convert shoppers at every stage, from digital discovery to in-store purchase and quick commerce.
Campaign Objectives
- Make ‘Sip on Sunshine’ unmissable during the peak summer period
- Drive awareness and conversion among Starbucks fans, chilled-coffee shoppers, and soft-drink buyers
- Deliver a connected, full-funnel campaign that turns awareness into conversion and category growth
- Outperform established drinks brands and grow the milk-based drinks category
The Challenge
The chilled drinks category is crowded and fast-moving, with fleeting customer attention and intense competition. Missing the summer moment can mean missing the year’s sales targets. Arla needed to break through with a new product, ensuring consistent visibility and memorability across all shopper touchpoints. The challenge was to connect with the right audiences, disrupt established buying habits, and deliver measurable growth in a short window.
The Solution
We leveraged our exclusive first-party loyalty data from 24 million Nectar members to identify and target three high-potential groups: Starbucks drinkers, chilled-coffee shoppers, and soft-drink buyers. Basket-model lookalikes enabled us to reach beyond historic buyers, activating the same audiences across all retail media touchpoints.
The creative idea was simple: be the summer drink customers can’t escape. Consistent, eye-catching creative was deployed across eleven retail media channels, ensuring coverage at every stage of the funnel.
- Upper & Mid-Funnel: Highly targeted offsite activity on Meta drove brand awareness and consideration, feeding directly into conversion audiences.
- Lower Funnel: A category-first store wrap, FOS Chillers, Aisle Fins, Barkers, Entrance Gates, Trolleys, and Digital Screens created an unmissable in-store experience, guiding shoppers from entrance to purchase.
- Quick Commerce: Sponsored placements on Deliveroo and Uber Eats captured ‘see it = buy it now’ moments, extending the campaign’s reach and conversion opportunities.
This omnichannel approach delivered a seamless, connected journey from screen to shelf, making ‘Sip on Sunshine’ easy to spot, remember, and buy.
The Results
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new customers in the milk-based drinks sub-category
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category uplift
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incremental in-store sales boost
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brand uplift for Starbucks RTD
This campaign set a new standard for summer retail media, with eleven channels working in harmony to deliver the strongest uplifts where touchpoints connected:
- 143,000 new customers in the milk-based drinks sub-category
- +12% category uplift, delivering significant incremental sales growth and expanding the total category value
- Upper & mid funnel:
- +12.8% offer uplift vs. control
- +1.9% total brand uplift
- +0.7% aisle/category uplift
- Lower funnel:
- +178% uplift from combined in-store touchpoints (digital screens, entrance gates, FOS chillers)
- Homepage & Search In-Grid Banners: 242,000+ impressions, 0.51% average CTR (beating benchmarks)
- For Starbucks RTD:
- +18% brand uplift
- 41,000 new customers (+41% new customer uplift)
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