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June 2006 - Strategy Magazine
Special report: Cannes contenders

Editor's pick - Tim Hortons
Cannes contenders [female demo]

by Natalia Williams
page 51

True winner

Tim Hortons

Why it's a contender: Sentimental yet effective. This spot, featuring a father and son manages to tap into the right amount of Canadiana, uniting family, hockey and coffee.

"It's one thing to have the right script. It's a whole other thing to pull it off," says Paul Wales, president and CD of Enterprise Advertising of the overwhelmingly positive response to the spot, which is part of the True Stories-themed commercials that the brand has run annually for about 10 years now. And this year's

offering? "I think we nailed it."

Length of campaign:

Ran during the Winter Olympics

The target:

Tim Hortons loyal coffee customers, adults 25+. The ad is "meant to be representative of the Canadian story," says Wales.

The insights:

People new to Canada discover that hockey and coffee are key to the country's makeup. "Tim Hortons has become part of the fabric of the country, so it defines what being a Canadian is."

The goal:

"To demonstrate how Tim Hortons and Tim Hortons coffee are part of the Canadian experience. Not just today but over the generations," he says.

The results:

The response to the ad has been "unbelievable," says Wales. "If you were to count all the positive letters and feedback Tim's gets in a year for all the advertising we do, it was double that amount in the first two weeks that the spot started running."

The players

Enterprise Advertising:

Paul Wales, president/CD

Andrew Shaddick,

senior copywriter

Winston Lee Chan,

senior art director

Daina Liepa, producer

Sandy Watt,

group account director

Melissa Quibell, account executive

Paul Cade, director

Tim Hortons:

Cathy Whelan Molloy, VP, brand marketing and merchandising, The TDL Group

(operators of Tim Hortons)

Dave McKay, marketing

director, beverages

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