The perfect mix of viral moment, urgency, and brand awareness can be summed up in two words: Unicorn Frappuccino. How Starbucks over the summer drummed up interest in a limited-time drink based on a mythical beast — and leveraged it to promote the coffee chain’s new look — exemplifies one of the many ways companies are making marketing feel less like, well, marketing. As consumers spread their attention across television, streaming, social media, influencers, and other channels, companies are changing their strategies to reach them. At the same time, better data and technology are giving companies a clearer picture than in the past of which campaigns actually drive sales and where their dollars are best spent. “We’re investing in the places where we believe we can drive transactions, drive the brand, build that loyalty and love, and make sure people understand what Starbucks stands for,” Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said on the company’s fiscal 2026 third quarter earnings call back in late July. Niccol, a turnaround artist with a proven track record, is two years into breathing life back into Starbucks. In addition to traditional advertising and marketing, out-of-the-box creative strategies and unconventional endeavors are at the core of his mission to get that word out that the once-wayward brand is back. Unicorns and barista influencers The Unicorn Frappuccino, first released in 2017, is a great example of that new creative energy. After seeing renewed interest on social media in the pink-and-blue swirled drink earlier this year, Starbucks first brought it back at the Coachella music festival in April. The company then rolled it out globally for one weekend in August. The company sold 2 million of the drinks over those days, according to a Starbucks spokesperson. “That’s just very holistic thinking of marketing in a way that’s a bit viral, unique, that also creates urgency with the consumer and doesn’t cause any discounting,” William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia told CNBC. “So, it’s all full-price sales.” It’s also important for the economics of the Starbucks turnaround. Rather than relying on discounts to drive traffic, the company can use product innovation and marketing to give customers a reason to visit at full price. On the unconventional side, Starbucks is experimenting with a previously untapped channel: its own employees. The company has operated a Green Apron Creator Program, paying baristas to create social media content during dedicated shifts. It is now preparing a separate TikTok pilot that will pay a Starbucks employee and another outside creator to travel to Starbucks locations around the world and produce social content about the company’s coffee, products, and stores. Employee-generated content could give Starbucks a more genuine way to reach younger consumers, with baristas who know the products and interact with customers every day serving as brand messengers. “There’s a very keen suspicion about authenticity amongst…
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