Starbucks: The Not-So-Secret Menu
Role:
Creative Director @ Starbucks
Creative Director @ Starbucks
Real ones know that when a seasonal Starbucks menu releases, there’s the official drinks, and then there’s the drinks people personalize using the new ingredients. We wanted to celebrate this behavior by creating a platform that shares exclusive inspo with our biggest fans.
So we created The Not-So-Secret Menu broadcast channel on Instagram, dming recipes that went viral on social, were inspired by culture, or made in-house by our flavor experts. All with a link to order on the app, making it as easy as possible for our barista partners.
We saw the channel was getting a lot of fan love, so we experimented by sharing one of the modified drinks in-feed:
We let the broadcast channel show us what drinks were getting hype and were worthy of sharing in-feed:
And that Dubai Chocolate-inspired Matcha Latte? It was such a hit, we actually made it an official seasonal beverage for Winter 2026, along with a mocha version.
After Winter, it became a core beverage available to order all year, showing the importance of listening to your audience.
