The three-year contract will see We Are Social focus on Europe’s younger coffee consumers | Photo credit: Douglas Bagg

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Starbucks has chosen London-based We Are Social to be its new strategic and creative agency for the European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions.

The three-year contract will see We Are Social focus on Europe’s younger coffee consumers via a ‘social-first, hyper-localised, culturally relevant’ creative strategy.

Alongside targeting Gen Z and millennial audiences, We Are Social will also be responsible for delivering market led social strategy and brand campaigns that remain ‘connected to culture’.

The marketing agency said that social media agency Socialize, acquired by We Are Social in 2018, will manage campaigns in the Middle East.

“World class iconic brands don’t get any bigger than Starbucks so we are naturally thrilled to start this relationship. Their ambition to engage directly with a Gen Z audience represents the sort of fresh thinking modern brands need to take to remain relevant today. There was an immediate chemistry and connection with the Starbucks team, who shared the same ambition of putting cultural insights at the heart of the strategy,” said Jim Coleman, CEO, We Are Social UK.

“We Are Social have demonstrated their expertise and enthusiasm when it comes to connecting with Gen Z and millennial audiences and we are incredibly excited to begin this new journey together,” added Sarah Harris, Marketing Director, Starbucks EMEA.

The We Are Social agreement ends a five-year collaborative relationship between Starbucks and UK marketing agency Iris. The company led the Starbucks What’s Your Name campaign, which celebrated Starbucks’ routine of writing a customer’s name on a cup as part of the ‘Starbucks Experience’.

Starbucks’ EMEA operations achieved revenues of $237m in the 2021 financial year, growth of 41% on the same 12 months in 2020.

As of October 2021, Starbucks operated more than 3,900 stores in 43 markets across the EMEA regions. The Seattle-based coffee chain operates 35,000 outlets globally.