Starbucks has unveiled its 2016 Holiday Red Cups to welcome the holiday season, which will feature designs created by customers.
Since 1997, Starbucks has welcomed the holidays with a special red cup that celebrates the spirit of the season. Over the years, designs have ranged from the modern, using whimsical brushstrokes in bold colors, to the nostalgic, featuring mistletoe and ornaments.
This year, for the first time, Starbucks red cups will feature designs created by customers with 13 distinct cups in stores starting from November 10.
Starbucks global chief marketing officer Sharon Rothstein said: “We hope that this year’s red holiday cup designs express the shared spirit of the holidays as told by our customers."
For years Starbucks customers have been decorating their white cups (Starbucks even held a contest to support this creativity).
Taking a cue from customers who had been using their red holiday cups as a canvas, last December Starbucks invited customers to share their designs on Instagram.
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.
Blevins said: “We loved how the red cups with white designs naturally created a collection.
“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.
Blevins said: “People will be walking around the street in Shanghai, New York and London carrying these cups.
“We love that this year our customers’ artistry can play a part in brightening someone’s day.”
