Jack Butcher × Starbucks
COLLECT THE DOTS
A cryptic coaster is a reason to start a conversation.
Stand on the Starbucks green dots at the booth. Get two. Trade with other participants to complete your set.
Jack Butcher installs a sculptural dice work at Art Basel Hong Kong. Starbucks powers the activation that surrounds it.
At the booth, visitors stand on the Starbucks green dots painted on the floor. Each person receives two random coasters showing die faces. Two numbers to start, four more to find.
To collect all six dots, you must trade with other fair participants. Find someone with the number you need, start a conversation, make a trade.
When you complete your set, Starbucks covers your roll. Your roll determines a custom set of six resin dice, assembled and boxed on the spot in a Starbucks-branded case.
The mechanic creates crowds at the booth and conversations across the fair. People approach strangers holding coasters, looking for the numbers they need.
The Starbucks green dots mark where you stand, where you receive, where the game begins. The brand lives in the object people take home and the social dynamic it creates.
750 rolls. 4,500 coasters redeemed. Many more distributed. One mechanic that turns the fair floor into a trading floor.
Work and Luck are two solid silver sculptures created by Jack Butcher in collaboration with Asprey Studio. Work traces the evolution of labour from physical craft to digital interface. Luck removes chance from tools designed for uncertainty.
Work asks what happens when labour becomes invisible. Luck asks what happens when you remove chance from the outcome.
Together they frame the question: is the value in the object, or in how you got there?
The activation mirrors the artwork. Value is created through effort: trading, conversation, completing the set. The outcome is determined by chance: the roll that decides which dice you take home. Work and Luck, embedded in the mechanic itself.
2024
Four hands in solid silver. From anatomical detail to pixelated cursor. A progression tracing the migration of labour from physical effort to interface-driven action.
Cast in pure silver and hallmarked by the UK Assay Office through Asprey Studio. The first hand bears newly registered marks connected to the artist, a centuries-old tradition of trust embedded directly into the object.
2026
Dice with chance removed
Work vs. Luck, Presented at Art Basel Hong Kong
Six dice. Each one shows a single number on every face. The one shows only ones. The two shows only twos. And so on. Tools shaped like uncertainty, rebuilt as certainty.
At the booth, you roll six regular dice. Your result determines which set you take home: six custom dice pulled to match your exact roll. Assembled and boxed on the spot. Every set is unique, but no set is better or worse than another. There is no winning number. Resin. $88 or free with a full set of coasters. Above that, 80 editions in pure silver through Asprey Studio. $8,888.
This is not gambling. Every outcome has equal value. Every participant takes home the same product. The roll determines which set is yours, not whether you get one. The mechanic is social: collecting six dots means meeting five strangers. Structurally closer to a scavenger hunt than a wager.
The Math
Adjust the inputs to see how the activation scales
Coasters Distributed
12,000
Sets Completed
700
Coasters Redeemed
4,200
Successful Trades
2,800
Total Conversations
4,900+
All created by randomly distributing small pieces of green cardboard.
The real piece isn't the dice. It's the five conversations it took to collect the dots.
Digital Artist & Founder
Jack Butcher is the founder of Visualize Value. His digital art projects have generated over $1 billion in secondary sales. He has exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach and Paris Photo, and collaborated with Oracle Red Bull Racing and Art Blocks. Prior to founding VV, he spent a decade in advertising working for Ferrari, American Express, Oracle, and other major brands.
Art Basel Miami Beach 2025
Self Checkout, Jack's most recent Art Basel booth, generated immediate and wide coverage. A pay-what-you-wish installation that made the $74,211 cost of exhibiting completely transparent. 5,837 receipts sold across five days.
Beyond press, the project drove wide user-generated content across TikTok and Instagram, with multiple millions of views on visitor-shot videos. The booth became a content engine: every receipt, every price reveal, every reaction filmed and shared organically.
"A fascinating project that makes very visible the substantial cost involved in bringing work to a fair."
Artnet News"New tech and old names drive sales at Art Basel Miami Beach."
The Art Newspaper"Every dealer at a Miami fair has been doing this exact calculus in their head all week. Butcher is just making it visible."
The Gray MarketStarbucks
No logos, no banners, no branding. At the booth, visitors stand on Starbucks green dots painted on the floor. Each person receives two random coasters. Two numbers to start, four more to find. The mechanic forces conversation: to collect all six dots, you must find other participants and trade. The fair floor becomes a trading floor.
(Placeholder Design)
Die face in Starbucks green. The dot count matches a real die. The coaster is the game piece. "Collect the Dots" around the rim tells you exactly what to do.
Jack Butcher, Art Basel 2026, Booth Z01. Everything you need to find the installation. The green is the only brand signal. No logo required.
Stand on the Starbucks green dots at the booth. Get two random coasters. Two numbers down, four to go. You have something to trade.
Find other participants. Show them your coasters. Ask what they have. Make trades until you complete your set. Four more numbers, four conversations, four trades.
Return with six coasters. Starbucks covers your roll. Walk away with a custom set in a Starbucks case.
Starbucks green dots painted on the floor mark where to stand. Each visitor receives two random coasters. Everyone needs numbers they don't have. The booth becomes a gathering point. People linger, compare coasters, start trading on the spot.
A single dot on a coaster. It looks different. People photograph it, share it, ask about it. Every dot is branded content moving through the fair.
You notice the person next to you has a different number. You say something. Starbucks just created a social moment at an art fair. The mechanic forces interaction.
You're walking around the fair, approaching strangers, showing your coaster, asking what they have. Trading, negotiating, completing your set. The story of the hunt is more shareable than the set itself.
Anyone can pay $88 to roll. But a complete set of six gets you in free. Starbucks picks up the tab. Every roll produces a unique set. No winning number, no losing number. Just yours.
Starbucks-redeemed rolls come in a custom Starbucks-branded case. The brand isn't on a banner behind the booth. It's on the object people take home, display, and photograph. Permanent, physical, collectible.
Starbucks buys 750 rolls for fair guests. 4,500 coasters redeemed, many more distributed randomly at the booth, six designs. We provide the artwork and make the dice. Starbucks green dots are painted on the floor at the booth. Visitors stand on the dots and receive two random coasters each. No complete sets. Participants must trade amongst themselves to collect all six dots. Crowds form at the booth. Conversations spread across the fair. Complete your set, earn a roll, take home a custom set in a Starbucks green case. Every participant walks away with either a conversation or a sculpture. Usually both.
Pay or play. The conversation is the same.
Activation touchpoints
Artist cocktail party
Art Basel opening night. Collectors, press, industry insiders. Coasters scattered across every table, mixed randomly. By the end of the night, people are comparing dots, trading across tables, and trying to complete a set before the fair even opens.
The game starts here. These are the VIPs, the collectors, the people who need to finish what they started. They arrive at the fair the next morning looking for other participants to trade with, heading to the booth to complete their roll.
The brand doesn't need a banner behind a DJ. It needs to be the reason two collectors introduce themselves.
UX of claim
You arrive with six dot coasters. What happens next is a moment, not a transaction. You've already had five conversations with strangers to get here. The roll is a ceremony. Every outcome is equal. Green dots are painted on the floor — marking where to stand, where to roll, where to watch. They guide the flow without a single sign. The only brand presence in the booth is underfoot: subtle, unmissable, and in every photo. The brand lives on the journey that got you there, the dots under your feet, and the case you take home.
Present six dot coasters. Staff verify all dots and log your roll number. The coasters are yours to keep. Marked proof you were there.
Six dice on custom felt. Everyone nearby watches.
Your roll determines your set. Each die shows only the number you rolled, on every face. Starbucks-redeemed sets go in a Starbucks case.
Every roll is photographed, logged, and posted to the live feed. Shareable, timestamped, permanent.
The booth isn't a checkout counter. It's a stage. Every roll is a performance with an audience. And every outcome is a one-of-a-kind set. There's nothing to win or lose. Just something to take home and a story about how you got there.
Teaser & recap
30–60 seconds. Text-driven, high-paced. Quick cuts between dice, dots, coasters, green, hands, strangers. No voiceover, just type on screen. Art x Starbucks. Collect the Dots. Art Basel Hong Kong. Drops before the fair to build anticipation and seed the mechanic.
60 seconds. Same energy, same pace. Real footage from the fair floor: people spotting the green, trading coasters, rolling at the booth, reacting to their set. Text-driven stats woven in: dots collected, sets completed, conversations started. Starbucks is in every frame but never the subject. The content writes itself.
Trading across the fair
After leaving the booth with two random coasters, participants spread across Art Basel looking for the numbers they need. Strangers approach strangers. Coasters are visible, physical, immediate. The conversation starter is in your hand.
No instructions needed. The coaster says "Collect the Dots." You have two numbers. You need four more. The mechanic is self-evident. Trading happens organically. Crowds form around successful traders. The fair floor becomes a trading floor.
The booth creates the problem. The fair floor solves it. Every trade is a conversation. Every conversation spreads the brand.
Secret menu at Hong Kong Starbucks
During Art Basel week, participating Starbucks locations across Hong Kong offer a secret menu item. Order it by name and receive a code for free Art Basel admission. The drink is tied to the installation. The code is one-time use. The mechanic spreads through word of mouth.
No signage in stores. No official announcement. Just whispers, social posts, and people asking baristas if they've heard about it. The drink name references the artwork. Maybe "Work and Luck." Maybe "Collect the Dots." The specificity creates authenticity. You either know or you don't.
This isn't a coupon. It's cultural currency. Early adopters share it. Influencers post it. Starbucks becomes the entry point to Art Basel, not just the coffee stop. Stores see increased foot traffic. The brand gets associated with insider access and art world credibility.
The fair brings people to the booth. The booth brings people to the stores. The stores bring people to the fair. A closed loop.
Participating locations: Central, Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui flagships. Limited codes available. Fair admission valued at HK$200-400 depending on day pass type.
The contemporary design arm of Asprey London, est. 1781. Over two centuries of heritage in silversmithing and fine craftsmanship. Bespoke objects using traditional techniques and contemporary design.
An art house uniting gallery representation with a creative and tech studio, built to expand artists' potential rather than limit it.
Experiential marketing studio specializing in culturally embedded brand activations, turning concepts into physical moments that move through audiences, not past them.