Starbucks has partnered with mobile app Sanctuary to match customers with the perfect drink for their spring horoscope. As people purchase more with their beliefs and values, brands are tapping into emerging opportunities for personalization while relating to consumers through faith-based moments.
In March 2023, Starbucks celebrated a new astrological year by announcing StarbucksStarSigns.com on its Instagram. The website, created in collaboration with the horoscope app Sanctuary, asks people to answer a set of questions relating to their zodiac sign. Once completed, the questions generate a personalized and immersive 'star signs chart' that includes a colour, a flower, a mantra for the month, and a recommended Starbucks drink.
In the US a growing share of adults may be religiously unaffiliated with this share of the public being 6 percentage points higher than it was five years ago and 10 points higher than a decade ago, but research from YouGov finds that 27% of Americans – including 37% of adults under 30 – believe in astrology.
With people moving towards alternative faith-based systems as they lose faith in traditional institutions and religion, the Starbucks initiative is a low-stakes way for a brand to relate to consumers by speaking a common language that reflects people's shifting faith.
