A little kindness is never really little

Starbucks Kindness 2023

Art Direction

Director: Michael Marantz | Production: mssngpeces | Photography: Mathieu Young

Creative VP: Jen Quotson | Creative Director: Gary Jacobson | Art Director: Bonita Nongluk

Agency: BBDO (David Lubars, Gary DuToit, Lance Vining, Matt Low, Kristin Clark)

Project brief: People working on the front line of service industries face many challenges as we emerge from a volatile pandemic. Starbucks wanted to launch a campaign to remind us that kindness is everywhere. Our celebration of kindness serves as a testament to the little moments Starbucks baristas witness everyday through our windows and in our stores. This works spans digital, in-store, OOH, and internal activations – I joined the team to art direct our film shoots and photographic output.

A major challenge was aligning our film spot and photography work to the established Kindness moodboard, toolkit, and creative expression guide set by the Creative Studio and Starbucks marketing team months earlier.

Photography commenced during the film shoot, leaning into the UGC-inspired, down-to-earth vibes of our initial campaign concept.

Initially, images were captured with a DSLR and depicted the scenes shown in the film. We pivoted to a more naturalistic approach to better align to our creative intentions and have a bigger impact in our launch. Shoutout to photographer Mathieu for pulling out that iPhone.

Campaign images were intended for social, owned channels, and beyond. Watch this space for the future of kindness!