A speculative ad for Starbucks
This project imagines what would happen if Starbucks went beyond Earth and reimagined coffee culture in space.
Starbucks has always been more than coffee, it’s an experience, a place of comfort, and a familiar atmosphere that feels like home, wherever you are.
Starbucks has always been more than coffee, it’s an experience, a place of comfort, and a familiar atmosphere that feels like home, wherever you are.
The story follows a protagonist who feels down, tense, and caught in her own worries. She unexpectedly discovers in Starbucks an atmosphere that lifts her mood, as if her sadness dissolves into a cosmic journey. The metaphor of space represents how far the Starbucks Experience can travel, bringing the taste of home anywhere, even beyond our planet.
Visually, the film transitions from a 16:9 cinematic frame into 9:16 vertical, a stylistic choice that echoes the iconic shape of the Starbucks cup. Inside this vertical frame, the metaphorical voyage through space unfolds, as if contained within the cup itself. Once the journey is complete, the format returns to 16:9, grounding the story back in reality and reinforcing the idea that Starbucks always brings you back to comfort.
For this speculative work, I fused my passions for branding, fashion, art, and architecture to craft a new kind of Starbucks experience in space.
The visual language draws on the futuristic visions of Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Karim Rashid, Jean Nouvel, the cinematic mastery of Stanley Kubrick, the photographic power of Helmut Newton, and the bold imagination of Gō Nagai.
The visual language draws on the futuristic visions of Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano, Karim Rashid, Jean Nouvel, the cinematic mastery of Stanley Kubrick, the photographic power of Helmut Newton, and the bold imagination of Gō Nagai.
You can find the complete creative strategy here:
https://giuliamariavalli.com/starbucks-beyond-coffee-beyond-earth