Blink and you’ll miss it! Discover the secret details in our Starbucks holiday ad

Think you’re a Starbucks superfan? Only true Starbucks lovers could catch all the secret details we snuck into our latest holiday advert. ‘Tis the season for surprises and there are plenty of them hidden throughout our advert – try and spot them all!  

Spot our leading lady…

George may be the star of the holiday advert but we all know that the real main character is the iconic siren on our logo. She’s what makes Starbucks…well, Starbucks. If you look closely, you’ll spot her hiding in the background of several shots in the ad. Pause at 0:03. See the little girl drawing something on the wall by the stairs – look familiar? At the end of the advert the siren makes another cameo in the form of a stuffed toy.

Bonus fact: ever wondered why we have a siren in our logo?  Well, it’s because our hometown is the port city of Seattle. Our founders had an affinity for the sea and actually landed on the name ‘Starbucks’ because of a character from the classic novel, Moby Dick (if you know, you know). It only felt right for our logo to pay homage to this mystical maiden of the sea.

Now here’s a niche fact for the serious Starbucks superfans out there... In our holiday advert, you might have noticed the siren isn’t entirely accurate – because she only has one tail, whereas on the Starbucks logo she actually has two! That’s because she isn’t your typical mermaid – she’s a siren. These super-mermaids are often depicted in mythology with two tails. You can read all about the interesting history behind our logo here.  

The iconic Starbucks-green

You probably noticed there’s a lot of green in our holiday ad. What can we say, it’s our favourite colour! The main character, George, is of course wearing a Starbucks-green jacket throughout. At the start you’ll also spy a green umbrella in the hallway if you look close enough. Notice anything else that’s green?

In the supermarket

Blink and you’ll miss it but, in the scene where George is rushing through the grocery store, you’ll see an elderly grandmother who seems to be picking up some last-minute baubles. But what’s that in the refrigerator to her right? Yep, it’s the Starbucks ready-to-drink range! In fact, if you pop into your local supermarket IRL today, you’ll be able to pick up a Caffe Latte Chilled Coffee Classic, which comes in a festive red cup just like the one pictured in the advert. Go ahead, treat yourself!   

Starbucks merch

Near the end of the advert, George stops off at his local Starbucks for respite from the festive mania. The store looks pretty realistic, doesn’t it? That’s because our animators carefully handcrafted every detail to replicate a real store. As you can imagine, it took them a while.

If you look closely, you’ll see the background characters are drinking from our classic red holiday cups. If you’re really eagle-eyed, you’ll also spot the realistic cakes and treats behind the counter and the Starbucks merch lining the shelves in the background – they’re actually the same festive touches you’ll find if you head into one of our stores today.

If you’re wondering how we packed so much detail into a 30 second film, read about how we used stop-motion to capture the festive magic on-screen here.