Celebrity Name: Adrian Grenier
Brand Name: Starbucks
Deal Type: Brand Partnership / Promotional Campaign
Announced: April 7, 2026
Impact: National campaign; boosts Grenier’s public profile amid The Devil Wears Prada 2 buzz; launches Starbucks’ new year-round Energy Refreshers line
- Adrian Grenier teamed up with Starbucks to address his absence from The Devil Wears Prada 2 while promoting Starbucks’ brand-new Energy Refreshers, available in classic, lemonade, and coconut milk versions year-round.
- The 30-second ad features Grenier playing himself, confronting his sequel snub with humor: he toasts his character Nate, admits “he wasn’t perfect,” then declares, “Let’s leave Nate in 2006 and keep this good energy going,” before adding, “I mean, if they call… I’m free.”
- Three new drinks launched alongside the campaign: the Mango Strawberry Energy Refresher, Mango Strawberry Lemonade Energy Refresher, and Mango Dream Energy Refresher, all fruit-forward, caffeine-boosted picks available at Starbucks locations.
- The ad dropped on the same day Meryl Streep graced the cover of Vogue as her Miranda Priestly character, with The Devil Wears Prada 2 hitting theaters on May 1, 2026.
Adrian Grenier has no hard feelings about being left out of The Devil Wears Prada 2, and Starbucks is turning that into a marketing moment.
The 49-year-old actor, who played chef-boyfriend Nate opposite Anne Hathaway in the beloved 2006 original, has teamed up with Starbucks to promote the brand’s new Energy Refreshers while addressing his absence from the sequel with humor and good vibes.
In the cheeky 30-second spot, Grenier looks directly into the camera and says, “You might have seen the headlines. I wasn’t asked to be part of a certain sequel. But I’m good. Really. It’s all good energy.”
The camera then pulls back to reveal he’s been talking to a confused Starbucks barista, who hands him one of the chain’s new fruit-forward drinks. He wraps up his toast to Nate with a parting shot: “So let’s leave Nate in 2006 and keep this good energy going… I mean, if they call, I’m free.”
The campaign marks Grenier’s first known partnership with Starbucks. Just as Heidi Klum fronted a Grey Goose campaign inspired by The Devil Wears Prada 2, brands are cashing in heavily on the sequel’s cultural moment, and Grenier proves even the stars left off the cast list can get in on the buzz. His previous brand work has spanned Columbia Sportswear, Buffalo Jeans, and Dell.
Starbucks has been leaning aggressively into entertainment partnerships in 2026, having previously aligned with MrBeast’s Amazon show, collaborated with designer Zac Posen during New York Fashion Week, and added Khloé Kardashian’s Khloud popcorn brand to its menu. Past celebrity tie-ins include Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Lady Gaga.
The new campaign, much like Benedict Cumberbatch and Letitia Wright fronting Prada’s Re-Nylon 2026 campaign, shows how entertainment and fashion brands are finding creative ways to blur the line between pop culture and product launches.
On the acting front, Grenier recently starred in Self Custody, a bitcoin action-thriller short now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, and Plex, and has the romantic comedy You, Always in the pipeline.
Takeaways
This campaign is a masterclass in leaning into a cultural narrative rather than running from it. Grenier’s very public “snub” from The Devil Wears Prada 2 became a story in itself, and Starbucks smartly capitalized on that existing buzz to launch a new product line with built-in viral potential.
It’s a win on all sides: Grenier gets a high-profile moment during one of Hollywood’s most talked-about sequel cycles, Starbucks gets cultural relevance tied to a blockbuster release.
What’s particularly clever is the ad’s self-awareness. it doesn’t pretend the snub didn’t happen. That authenticity is exactly the kind of marketing that resonates in 2026, where audiences can smell a forced partnership from a mile away.
Could Grenier’s “good energy” positioning actually make him more likable to audiences than if he’d been cast in the sequel? With The Devil Wears Prada 2 already generating massive cultural heat, how many more brands will find creative ways to ride that wave without being in the official studio partnership?
