Starbucks® x Peanuts™
A Little Nostalgia, A Lot of Connection.
Date
2026
Location
Global · 87 Markets · 14,000+ Stores
My Role
Digital Design Director
Services
Design Direction
Campaign Concepting
Visual Language
The Brief
Overview
A Beloved Partnership
For its second year, Starbucks and Peanuts reunited to celebrate the 60th anniversary of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The opportunity was to evolve a beloved partnership into a shared cultural moment that could resonate across generations and continents.
I led the design direction from early concepting through the development of a global visual language, bringing two iconic brands together in a way that felt both familiar and refreshingly new.
The Challenge
How Do You Make Something Global Feel Personal?
The challenge wasn't simply to create a campaign that looked good everywhere. It was to create something people could feel connected to, wherever they were.
Peanuts carries decades of emotional familiarity. Starbucks has its own place in people's everyday rituals. Bringing them together meant honoring what people already loved while finding a fresh perspective that could resonate across cultures.
We needed a visual language that could travel across markets, touchpoints, and formats without losing the warmth, humor, and humanity that made the partnership meaningful in the first place.
The Creative Approach
A Love Letter to Friendship
Built on the shared spirit of friendship, the concept drew inspiration from Charles Schulz's love of letter writing and the resurgence of pen pals. I directed a postage-inspired visual language, bringing stamps, postmarks, and original Peanuts illustrations together to create moments worth collecting.
Linus's unwavering belief in the Great Pumpkin became a playful parallel to the anticipation of Pumpkin Spice season, turning familiar nostalgia into new memories.
One Story, Told Around the World
A cohesive visual language brought two iconic brands together across cultures, markets, and experiences, making a global celebration feel personal.
Worth Holding Onto
Inspired by handwritten correspondence, every stamp, illustration, and detail transformed everyday moments into something meaningful to collect, share, and remember.
The Impact of a Shared Story
87
Global
14K+
Stores worldwide
31
Creative assets
The response was immediate. Fans lined up before dawn, and merchandise sold out online within hours, turning a shared sense of nostalgia into a global moment.
What Stays With Us