Starbucks and its barista-creators are piloting TikTok’s new custom ad networks

TikTok, like everyone else, is at Cannes Lions this week, and among its biggest announcements is the reveal of Custom Creator Networks, which it says will “allow advertisers to build a curated pool of creators, employees, partners, or brand advocates to receive campaign briefs or turn their existing brand-relevant videos into high-performing ads.”

And the first brand to launch its own custom network? Starbucks.

This won’t come as a surprise if you’ve been keeping tabs on the coffee giant’s creator endeavors. While many major retail brands have embraced content creators and sponcon as part of their advertising efforts, Starbucks in particular has notably leaned on employees to spread its word on social media.

In 2024, it formalized barista content by launching its Green Apron Creators Program, where employees can earn extra cash by posting videos about their jobs online.

Then, last summer, it opened a new position, Global Coffee Creator, for two people–one an established Starbucks employee, one an external hire. Both creators got 12-month contracts to travel around the world and make digital content about the local culture and community surrounding Starbucks locations in places like Milan, Tokyo, Colombia, Dubai, and Costa Rica.

Starbucks’ new TikTok network is an expansion of the Green Apron Creators Program.

By organizing creator-baristas into a formal group tied into TikTok’s content/campaign manager, Sbux will be able to “share creative briefs with their community of employee creators, enabling them to participate more directly in the creator economy through content opportunities and ad revenue sharing,” TikTok said in a company blog post

This wide-cast method–where a brand posts a brief, usually with set compensation, to a number of creators, and it’s up to those creators to independently produce videos for potential inclusion in the campaign–is a common one. YouTube announced its own version, Open Call, at Cannes Lions 2025.

“Every day, our partners (employees) bring Starbucks to life by creating moments of connection with our customers and with each other. And more than ever, they are sharing those moments with the world on social media in authentic, creative, and unique ways,” Erin Silvoy, Starbucks’ Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, said in a statement. “Collaborating with TikTok provided us with the opportunity to build a customized platform that allows us to celebrate and amplify our partners’ authentic storytelling.”

Starbucks’ network will launch later this summer, and serves as the pilot for Custom Creator Networks. But to be clear, not every network will follow in Starbucks’ footsteps and be employees-only.

TikTok said the overall goal with networks overall is to let brands “more easily discover, activate, and scale trusted voices while maintaining greater control over creative collaboration.”

Our takeaway: For creators of all sizes who regularly make content about digital-savvy brands, Custom Creator Networks could prove to be a new monetization opportunity–and perhaps a gateway to more individualized, longer-term partnerships with brands.