Starbucks’ 2025 holiday campaign, “Drawn Together,” tells a simple, touching story of two hand-drawn characters on coffee cups finding each other. Created with Anomaly, the film reinforces the brand’s message that togetherness defines the season. With gentle, heartfelt storytelling, Starbucks highlights how even a humble cup of coffee can bring people closer.
Starbucks has always understood the emotional pulse of the holidays, but its 2025 festive campaign takes that sentiment to a tender new place. The brand’s new film, “Drawn Together,” is a gentle reminder of why holiday advertising still matters—not because of spectacle or scale, but because of the small, human moments that make the season feel magical. In a year when digital noise often drowns out genuine feeling, Starbucks has chosen to tell a story built on simplicity: two hand-drawn characters sketched onto coffee cups who somehow find their way to one another. It is a quiet narrative, almost childlike in its innocence, yet powerful in the way it taps into the universal longing for connection.
The campaign’s message, “Together is the best place to be,” aligns seamlessly with Starbucks’ longstanding positioning as more than just a coffee brand. It has spent years building itself into a symbol of comfort, community and belonging. This new film builds on that legacy by showing how even the most humble medium—a paper cup—can become a vessel for hope, companionship and the warmth of human closeness. In the ad, the characters come alive through simple illustrations, moving from one cup to another, navigating wintry scenes and festive moments until they finally meet. There is no dialogue, no complicated plot, no overt push for a product. It’s the kind of understated storytelling that feels rare in a season often dominated by grand gestures and big-budget theatrics.
The campaign arrives during a pivotal time for Starbucks under the leadership of Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol, whose focus has been on reinforcing the brand’s emotional relevance while reenergizing global growth. Supporting him in this vision are Mike Grams, EVP and Chief Operating Officer, and Brady Brewer, CEO of Starbucks International, who oversees the brand’s worldwide presence during a period of renewed expansion. Global Chief Brand Officer Tressie Lieberman has played a central role in shaping the narrative voice that defines Starbucks’ marketing, ensuring that each campaign resonates beyond product to reinforce cultural connection. With Dominic Carr, Executive Vice President for Communications and Corporate Affairs, and Chief Legal Officer Brad Lerman contributing to the wider strategic direction, the company continues to operate as a unified team focused on deepening customer engagement.
Behind the scenes, the creative muscle powering the campaign comes from Anomaly, the agency long known for blending strategic insight with emotionally intelligent storytelling. Led by founding partner and executive chairman Carl Johnson and global CEO Karina Wilsher, the agency’s international team worked to build a narrative that feels both intimate and broadly relatable. Global Chief Creative Officer Mike Byrne and Global Partner and Chief Marketing Officer Eric Damassa helped shape the creative tone, ensuring the visuals felt handcrafted and genuine. With Partner and Chief Strategy Officer Amanda Feve and Chief Innovation Officer Natasha Jakubowski guiding the conceptual development, the campaign leans into a whimsical, illustrative style that differentiates it from more traditional holiday advertising. Chief Client Officer Lauren LaValle, along with Franke Rodriguez, CEO for New York and Toronto, and Khara Wagner, CEO for Los Angeles, helped ensure the execution matched the emotional ambition of the idea.
The result is a campaign that feels both modern and timeless. The use of drawn characters on cups taps into Starbucks’ iconography while introducing an entirely new emotional dimension. It evokes the kind of street-corner doodles, notebook sketches and everyday artistry that people often overlook, turning them into anchors of a heartfelt story. For many viewers, it may evoke memories of sharing a warm drink with someone they care about, meeting friends after months apart, or finding a moment of calm in a crowded season. The ad does not attempt to define what connection must look like; instead, it invites viewers to recall their own version of holiday closeness.
In an era when holiday ads from major brands often strive to go viral or push creative boundaries through technology, Starbucks’ choice to return to simplicity stands out. “Drawn Together” relies on emotion over innovation, on warmth over spectacle. That quietness is precisely what makes it feel so evocative. The campaign suggests that magic doesn’t always come from extraordinary moments—it can come from something as everyday as a coffee cup, especially when shared with the right person.
As viewers watch the two sketched characters journey toward each other, the metaphor becomes clear: connection requires movement, intention and a bit of vulnerability. The ad mirrors real life, where the holidays often push people to reach out, reconnect or rebuild relationships that might have drifted during the year. Starbucks positions itself as the backdrop for those moments—not the center of the story, but the place where the story unfolds.
With “Drawn Together,” Starbucks and Anomaly have created more than a seasonal message. They have crafted a small, gentle reminder of how meaningful the mundane can be. At a time when many people feel stretched thin, longing for quiet warmth and authenticity, the film offers a soft emotional exhale. Sometimes, all it takes is a cup of coffee—warm hands wrapped around it, a quick note scribbled on it, or a moment of stillness shared across a table—to bring people closer.
And in a season filled with countless ads competing for attention, this one stands out because it does not shout. It simply invites viewers to feel something again.
