- Starbucks and content creator MrBeast have teamed up across the second season of the star’s competition show, “Beast Games: Strong vs. Smart,” which is about to debut on Amazon Prime Video on Jan. 7, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
- Contestants could have complimentary, 24/7 access to Starbucks inside Beast City, the living quarters for those participating within the show. Starbucks can even offer a brand new Cannon Ball Drink, made for fans of the show, for a limited time starting Jan. 14.
- The Cannon Ball Drink can even be featured within the “Cannon Ball Challenge” as a part of a crossover episode with the competition show “Survivor.” Ahead of its latest tie-up, Starbucks also appeared in MrBeast’s “30 Days within the Sky” challenge on YouTube.
Starbucks is fueling contestants for season two of “Beast Games” through its partnership with MrBeast, the YouTube channel led by creator Jimmy Donaldson that touts over 454 million subscribers and a couple of billion followers across social media. “Beast Games,” which first debuted on Prime Video in 2024, follows contestants as they compete for $5 million.
The latest season of the competition series will feature Starbucks inside Beast City to offer contestants access to the coffee chain’s food and beverages. Competitors can even receive surprises from the chain throughout the season. “Beast Games: Strong vs. Smart” will include 200 competitors total — 100 credited for his or her strength and 100 for his or her intelligence — who will face off in quite a lot of challenges, per release details.
To complement the experience, Starbucks can even introduce a Cannon Ball Drink, a colourful mixture of the chain’s Strawberry Açaí and Mango Dragonfruit Refresher beverages that’s topped with fruit. The drink was inspired by and made on the set of season two of the series and can be featured within the “Cannon Ball Challenge” as a part of a crossover episode with “Survivor.” The episode will debut Jan. 14, the identical day the Cannon Ball Drink will develop into available at Starbucks coffeehouses within the U.S.
The latest tie-up between Starbucks and MrBeast follows a surprise appearance by the coffee chain on the creator’s “30 Days within the Sky” challenge on YouTube on Dec. 20. In the challenge, a Starbucks Global Coffee Creator named Josiah joined MrBeast to deliver a contestant of the challenge — which tasks two competitors to remain trapped 100 feet within the air for 30 days — their favorite Starbucks beverage and a likelihood to win a $50,000 Starbucks gift card.
The collaboration with MrBeast could help Starbucks grow loyalty with fans of the show, nearly all of whom are under 30 years old. Other brands have sought a partnership with the star, including Lowe’s, which recently launched a creator network geared toward millennial and Gen Z audiences that featured MrBeast as the primary major name to join the hassle.
Starbucks has been an energetic marketer recently. The chain launched its 2025 holiday marketing campaign in November to highlight several initiatives that it has embraced as a part of its turnaround strategy, like baristas writing personalized messages on customer orders. Starbucks’ efforts to return to growth under CEO Brian Niccol — which has seen the brand invest more in marketing — have began to show some signs of paying off. Same-store sales were flat in North America for the corporate’s fiscal Q4 2025, breaking an extended period of quarterly declines.
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