Starbucks takes their coffee to Twitch

The Future. In its first Twitch marketing effort, Starbucks has employed the freestyle rapper and influencer Harry Mack to recommend their coffee to his viewers via improvised rap verses. If it works, this kind of partnership could give creators a new option to avoid burnout — and give Twitch a lot more attention from major brands.

A light, nutty roast
The partnership centers around content foreign to Starbucks but perfect for Twitch.

• The main event was the “reverse roast,” an hour-long livestream in which Mack suggested viewers try various Starbucks coffee flavors based on personality descriptors they typed in the Twitch chat.

• Mack also went to the coffee aisle of a grocery store and recommended Starbucks products to strangers through freestyle rap, then uploaded recordings of these interactions to Instagram and TikTok.

• Mack built his following from live-streamed freestyle Twitch raps based on viewer-generated prompts, so the ad campaign’s format plays to his strengths.

Mack’s reverse roast stream peaked at 537 concurrent views and has over 3,200 views.

Twitch’s brew
Twitch attracts over 31 million daily users, 70% of whom belong to Gen Z. Capturing this demographic would be a big win for Starbucks, and it really could happen. Though primarily a gaming platform, Twitch has diversified recently, with its music category attracting 9 million followers.

Twitch has potential. The question is whether this partnership has the magic beans.