Starbucks red cups are here
Here’s a sure sign the holiday season is coming: Starbucks red cups are back!
Since 1997, Starbucks has used special red cups to capture the spirit of the holidays – and provide us some delicious drinks.
This year, for the first time, Starbucks red cups will feature designs created by customers. There are 13 distinct cups available starting today.
You can visit Starbucks at Dawley Farms inside Target. Shop and sip at the same time!
And wait until you see the red cups.
From Illinois to Indonesia, Pennsylvania to Korea, Dubai to Ontario, in just eight days, Starbucks received more than 1,200 individual submissions from 13 countries.
“We were surprised and inspired by the amount of incredible art submitted by our customers. The designs were beautiful, expressive and engaging,” said Dena Blevins, creative director at Starbucks Global Creative Studio. “We quickly realized there was potential to use the customer-created art for our holiday cups.”
The Starbucks Creative team printed each design posted to social channels and noticed the themes that began to emerge – graphic, inspirational, intricate, seasonal, typographic. No customer names were included, just a photo of the cup that was submitted.
“We loved how the red cups with white designs naturally created a collection,” Blevins said. “They hang together as one idea, but each expression is unique.”
Next, the Starbucks team asked a small group of customers to mail in their cup so that it could be evaluated for potential production. The team worked to honor the artists and the integrity of their artwork, making as few changes as possible to the original.
In the end, 13 customer designs were selected from six countries to represent the collective spirit of the holidays around the world. Their designs will be showcased on the holiday cups served in the more than 25,000 Starbucks stores in 75 countries.
“People will be walking around the street in Shanghai, New York and London carrying these cups,” Blevins said. “We love that this year our customers’ artistry can play a part in brightening someone’s day.”
