Starbucks Wants You to Get a Kick Out of Face-to-Face Meetings

Starbucks is known for serving piping hot wi-fi to people who want to stare at their phones and laptop screens while sipping coffee. But in its new campaign, the chain is encouraging people to embrace the pre-internet roots of coffeehouse culture.

In three 30-second spots titled "Kick" (above), "Apology" and "Date," we overhear disembodied conversations in progress (at a Starbucks, judging from the background noise) while seeing how they might have played out as text messages. In every case, there are nuances that are easy to discern from the tone and cadence of speech, but are utterly lost in text form. ("Kick" in particular then makes it clear how important human touch is.) The tagline: "Sometimes the best way to connect is to get together."

The campaign, by BBDO, is rolling out on U.S. national television.