• by Danielle Oster , April 7, 2025

The world may be falling apart, but at least you can count on a smooth cup of coffee.

Seattle’s Best Coffee’s “May Smoother Coffee Bring Smoother Days” campaign leans into this message. To deliver it, the brand turned to creative agency Haymaker and some veteran comedic talent, casting actor Joel McHale (‘Animal Control,’ ‘The Bear,’ ‘Community’) at the center of the effort.

In addition to the actor’s comedic resume, McHale has coffee experience as well.  “Much like Seattle’s Best, I have West Coast roots in coffee. In fact, my first job was working at a coffee cart, so being part of this campaign was a satisfying, full-circle moment,” he said in a release.

The ad, entitled “Smooth for All,” runs through a series of rough-day scenarios, from a car appearing to fall apart, to a chaotic kids' party, with McHale offering a cup of Seattle’s Best to help smooth things over.

The spot is running across national television, digital and social platforms this spring. The campaign is part of a broader brand refresh for Nestlé’s Seattle’s Best, which also includes a recent shakeup of its packaging to introduce “color-coded flavor panels,” hand-drawn illustrations for each blend, and "a dedicated panel for highlighting roast level, name, and tasting notes,” the brand explained in a release.

Seattle’s Best Coffee also recently introduced a Campfire S’more flavor.

“While our mission remains unchanged, we recognize that life is anything but smooth," Seattle’s Best Coffee Brand Manager Courtney Backman said in a statement. “By embracing those unpredictable moments with humor and relatability, we’re showing that while you can’t always control your day, you can always count on the smooth, satisfying taste of Seattle’s Best Coffee to help you power through.”

The campaign arrives at a rough time for the coffee category itself. Already facing increased commodity prices, coffee companies could see significant impacts from recent tariffs.

In a February earnings call with investors, Nestlé fielded multiple questions about anticipated pricing changes for its coffee brands — without providing much in the way of concrete answers. “I'm not going to give you the specifics of price increases on coffee because, obviously, we're working through that at the moment with our customers,” Nestlé CFO Anna Manz said on the call. “But you can see us looking to take price increases in the context of the inflation that we are seeing. And then we will see how the consumer responds to that.”