Integrated Brand Marketing Campaign

The theme of this year’s Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising Award was challenging the lack of representation and stereotyping of the LGBT+ community in advertising.

Based on the insight that only 0.3% of TV adverts feature a transgender person, despite the community making up an estimated 1% of the population, we saw an opportunity for Starbucks to re-ignite itself as a progressive brand, by building on its strong heritage with the LGBT+ community.

The integrated brand campaign, #whatsyourname, focuses on the importance of identity and acceptance. It takes Starbucks’ signature act of writing people’s names on cups and brings that to life in the most powerful way.

It builds on an insight that members of the transgender community often try out their new identity for the first time in a Starbucks store – an open and safe space where they feel welcomed.

Using the £1 million media awarded from Channel 4 we were able to give airtime to this under-represented community and tell their unique stories.

The 60 second TV ad depicts the challenges of ‘James’ who is transitioning and does not identify with his birth-name ‘Jemma’. Throughout the piece, James is called ‘Jemma’ by others during everyday occurrences until the ad culminates with him trying out his chosen name for the first time at a Starbucks store. He responds as ‘James’ when the barista asks his name which is then written on a Starbucks cup, and called out when James’s coffee is ready.

In addition to the TV ad, we also gave a platform to real trans people so they could tell the stories behind their chosen names in a series of ‘Moving Portraits’ that played out on TV, online, OOH and instore.

To extend Starbucks continued involvement support, we partnered with the charity Mermaids who offer support to the young transgender community and their families.