Ten years after its launch in Vietnam, Starbucks is still perceived by many, especially Gen Z, to be unapproachable and impersonal. Facing fierce competition from increasingly agile and social-savvy local chains, Starbucks Vietnam’s traditional approach that relies solely on global assets may prove to be a potential dealbreaker.

On a product level, Dolce Misto - inspired by Vietnam’s beloved signature drink “Cà phê sữa đá” – has been offered on the menu for years to little attention. The critical moment comes with two launches on the horizon: a new global brand platform centered around “Human connection”, and an improved recipe for Dolce Misto 2.0, the first of a “Vietnam collection” to come. The client’s goal is to re-launch the product, thereby expanding Starbucks’ appeal to a wider audience, particularly Gen Z, while keeping a premium image that is more humanized and engaging.

We came to realize that for Vietnamese, coffee culture was beyond the drink itself. It is not take-it-and-go but rather sit-down-and-talk. It is unmistakably social.

That’s why Starbucks and Dolce Misto take on a mission: become the nudge, the conversation starter inviting customers to connect. By putting a creative spin on the intersection of the product’s essence, the brand’s best self and the local audience’s psyche, the #Share_the_sweet_vibes campaign is designed as an authentic, localized call-to-action straight to the customers’ hearts.

Inspired by Cà phê sữa đá’s famously intense and addictive sweetness, we invite customers to get connected by sharing Dolce Misto with their friends, loved ones or even complete strangers, along with sweet thoughts written on cards gifted with their drinks. As ambassadors, baristas humanized Starbucks by gifting customers personalized cards. They also delivered livestream coffee workshops, creating a sweet package of O2O experiences while reinforcing the product-brand linkage.

The campaign focuses on Gen Z in major Vietnamese cities, who have their own idiosyncrasies. They are disconnected in real life yet hyper-connected on social, using trends to showcase their true personas. Fun-loving by nature, they like to engage with seemingly mindless and funny content while disdain overtly branded, traditionally corporate materials. They make common themes like love their own through personalization, flirting with crushes and dropping social hints in the form of rhyme and creative wordplay.

To forge meaningful connections with them, the strategy is for Starbucks to become enabler, giving Gen Z the freedom and platforms to tell their own stories, in their own ways, through UGC across online-offline. Starbucks acts as a witty young Siren, posting sweet poems and tongue-in-cheek teasing posts, gifting lovely handwritten cards with drinks, to entice Gen Z to create their own playful version and share it further within their network, authentically.

Early November, Starbucks first teased about “something sweet coming” through a flirty hint on social media. Leveraging Gen Z’s tendency to engage with peers’ authentic pieces of content rather than overly branded ones, the #Share_the_sweet_vibes trend was kicked off through a thoughfully selected network of KOCs, both mainstream and across subcultures. They shared personal stories, from playful to emotional, and created a ripple effect among target audience.

It was then Starbucks’ turn to “hijack” the trend it created with its witty spin. Baristas started gifting handwritten notes to customers’ delight, creating more social sharing and driving stores’ traffic. This seamless interplay between online and offline engagements made way for Dolce Misto’s official launch on Singles’ Day 11/11, further amplifying the “human connection” message. From then, a mix of engagement with KOLs, partner brands, in-store experiences (workshops, check-in corners, promotions) and mass exposure (iTVC, OOH) translated excitement into actions throughout November.

The campaign delivered sweet impacts that beat client’s expectations on both brand and business fronts.

35,000 cards were gifted to customers nationwide. 66 workshops were hosted across 51 stores, providing engaging hands-on experiences for 500+ customers.

Social engagements reached approximately 5 million, equivalent to half of Ho Chi Minh City’s population. The #Share_the_sweet_vibes trend hit 2.4 million views on TikTok, supercharging a threefold increase in share of voice. Starbucks jumped from 6th to 2nd place in coffee brands’ social media ranking. Brand sentiment score also doubled, from 0.57 to 0.93. As a result, sales witnessed a massive 10-times rise during the one-month campaign.

Informal interviews with customers showed enhanced brand affinity and a stronger sense of pride in Vietnamese coffee. Holistically, the campaign enables Starbucks to take a strong first step towards building an engaging, sustainable “Human Connection” platform, sharply cutting through the noise of a fiercely competitive landscape.