The fan-created Starbucks Pink Drink went viral on TikTok in 2016 as a selfie-worthy strawberry beverage and fashion accessory. Pink Drink was added to Starbucks café menus across the globe in the following year, and identified as an opportunity for a new ready-to-drink (RTD) format, alongside Paradise Drink (pineapple/coconut-flavored), in 2023. Unfortunately, the realities of bottling these beverages meant that the visual aesthetic integral to the obsession and buzz of these drinks was now obscured. We needed to deliver the fans a sense of “see me” satisfaction of café, while sparking interest with the 70% of Americans who didn’t know these drinks existed in the first place. 

Our aha moment? These beverages aren’t just drinks – they’re accessories in their own right.

We unbottled the personality of Pink Drink and Paradise Drink, introducing the Starbucks Sip & Sling Collection: on-the-go bags inspired by the bold colors and flavors of Pink Drink and Paradise Drinks, to help show off your good taste.

Our bags sold out in under three minutes (the fastest collection sell-out for Brandon Blackwood to date), the campaign contributed to 2-3x higher sales velocity than anticipated and drove more than 500k clicks to RTD product purchase pages. Surpassing campaign impressions goals in the first 72hrs (1.3B), media coverage landed Starabucks in top outlets like Teen Vogue, Complex, Ebony, WWD and HYPEBAE. Starbucks was in 80% of media headlines. Not only was the campaign commercially viable and record-breaking we found our $75 Sip & Sling bags listed for $400 and $299 on Poshmark and eBay.