Conscious Minds’ Chris Kitahara Spends Less Time Debating, More Time Trying Stuff Out

Conscious Minds’ Chris Kitahara Spends Less Time Debating, More Time Trying Stuff Out

Chris, an ECD and associate partner at Conscious Minds, recalls that his client Starbucks was reeling not long ago and needed to get back to basics. That meant serving fans, leading culture and showing up like the iconic brand people know and love. The job was to outpace an echo chamber of neutral and negative When you ask Chris, ECD and associate partner at Conscious Minds, there’s no hesitation: Starbucks. They needed to get back to what made Starbucks, Starbucks. That meant serving fans, leading culture, showing up like the iconic brand people remembered. The job was to outpace an echo chamber of neutral and negative sentiment by giving the biggest fans something real — bringing back the Unicorn Frappuccino at Coachella, dropping limited merch like Bearista. We reached new audiences through sports: the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the World Cup. And we reminded people the brand still leads the category, turning seasonal launches into events and new products like Protein and Energy into cultural conversations.In under two years, Back to Starbucks helped re-establish Starbucks as the world's local coffeehouse — and delivered the company's first simultaneous top- and bottom-line growth in more than two years.