First Look: Starbucks' holiday cups are out
The holiday season has officially arrived — at least at Starbucks Corp.
In keeping with a tradition that dates back to 1997, the coffee giant has rolled out specially designed, limited-edition seasonal cups, with four new hot cup designs and one cold cup that “capture the merriment of the season.” Each of the four hot cups has a unique theme and name, and all of them have “little badges” on the back for baristas to write a message, the company said.
The start of the holiday season at Starbucks also marks the end of the company’s extra charge for customizing beverages with non-dairy milk at company owned and operated stores in the U.S. and Canada.
Starbucks rolled out the cups on the heels of another disappointing quarter. New CEO Brian Niccol, who took the reins in September, has outlined a turnaround strategy for the chain.
All of the seasonal hot cups have a festive color palette that features familiar shades of Starbucks’ signature green and cranberry red paired with fondant-inspired soft pastels.
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Image courtesy of Starbucks. -
Image courtesy of Starbucks. -
Image courtesy of Starbucks. -
Image courtesy of Starbucks.
“We’re really excited to lean into greens this year,” said Kristy Cameron, Starbucks creative director for this year’s holiday cup designs, “The jade green is so vibrant and bright, and we love how it references our brand colors in a way that brings a spark of joy to our holiday cups this season.”
Graphic elements include charms that look like old-fashioned holiday ornaments or peppermints, which appear on cups and merchandise. A wavy motif inspired by the Starbucks siren serves as a scalloped edge treatment on the sleeve of the hot cup, along with little badges on the back of the cups for baristas to write a message.
"We’re calling it the ‘siren wave,’” explained Cameron. “It is a beautiful little holiday trim feature that you can see on our signs and packaging, or as a gift tag on the back of our cups as a place for baristas to write messages to our customers. It comes almost directly from her hair shape, zooming-in on our siren and our logo and playing with some of the shapes and negative space.”
Starbucks has added some new items to its holiday menu, including a “Cran-Merry” orange drink, a snowman cake pop and a penguin cookie.