Starbucks’ Super Bowl Pregame Ad is an Olympic and Italian-Inspired Love Letter to the Coffee Run

Starbucks is skipping an in-game Super Bowl spot again this year. However, as it did in 2025, the coffee giant will make its presence felt pre- and post-match with a beautiful film that’s equal parts Italian cinema and Olympic spectacle.

Highlighting its role as the official coffee of Team U.S.A., “The Coffee Run” from creative agency Anomaly LA, will debut during the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games on February 6 on NBC.

A 60-second version of the spot will also feature before and after the Seahawks-Patriots showdown on Super Bowl Sunday.

“Our vision is to be visible, relevant, and loved everywhere,” Starbucks chief brand officer (CBO) Tressie Lieberman told ADWEEK. “And I think that the greatest stage is the Super Bowl. So coming back is just a natural way to continue the narrative around our coffee, craft, and connection. And we’re breaking through with something that feels fresh.”

Filmed on location at a real Starbucks in the Austrian town of Hall in Tirol, an hour outside of Italy, the ad follows a day in the life of a delivery driver making repeated coffee runs to the peak of a ski slope.

Along the way, he furnishes Team U.S.A Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including Amber Glenn, Elana Meyers Taylor, Oksana Masters, and Aaron Pike, with much-needed hot beverages. The commercial also stars a real Starbucks barista, who greets the driver with a smile each time he comes in from the cold.

The art direction by duo Julian & Quentin was inspired by Italian cinema of the 1960s and ’70s. The pair put the footage through a “film-out process,” transferring it to physical film and back to introduce texture, grain, and imperfection to the scenes that can’t be replicated digitally.

Despite the vintage Italian feel, the ad nods to the U.S. brand’s roots, choosing “South American Getaway” from American composer Burt Bacharach as its soundtrack.

Back to Starbucks

Lieberman said “The Coffee Run” will be supported by a social media push, partnerships with Olympians, and via the Starbucks app, which now counts over 35 million members globally.

Starbucks’ Big Game-adjacent marketing blitz follows its 2025 “Hello Again,” ad, a campaign which aired around the broadcast to reintroduce the business as a “third space” where people can connect and gather.

That formed part of the brand’s ongoing “Back to Starbucks” turnaround strategy, led by CEO Brian Niccols, designed to “enhance the in-store experience.” This included the return of the condiment bar, baristas writing on cups, and a revised code of conduct.

Recent campaigns have included “Together at Starbucks” from Anomaly, and a sell-out holiday merch run that included a viral limited-edition teddy bear tumbler which people camped outside stores for.

Despite employee strikes and consumer boycotts, the turnaround plan is starting to pay off for Starbucks, which returned to U.S. same-store sales growth in the latest quarter after two years of declines. In Q1, $7.3 billion of its net revenues came from North America, up 3% year-on-year.

Lieberman said one in three customers said Starbucks was their first choice on their list of coffee shops to visit, “the highest it’s been in five years.”

“We’ve grown our traffic for both rewards and non-rewards members for the first time in nearly four years,” she added. “We’re getting back to brand love and getting that flywheel moving.”

A Super Bowl-Olympics Crossover

Starbucks isn’t the only brand investing in an Olympics-Super Bowl crossover campaign.

AB InBev’s Michelob Ultra is touting its Milano Cortina sponsorship during the event with an ad fronted by Hollywood icon Kurt Russell.

“We know there’s going to be so much pre-game coverage talking about the Olympics,” said Lieberman. “So it felt like we could create one big moment with two big stages coming together. It’s been a part of our planning process since we signed our partnership with the Olympic team.

The company is set to go big on the ground with a roastery in Millan serving coffee to athletes and spectators, as well as Olympic merchandise.

Last year, the Monday after the Super Bowl, Starbucks inserted itself into fans’ post-game ritual by offering members a free hot drink; it has not yet confirmed whether it will do the same in 2026.