Marketing Beat: Tim Horton’s New Commercial Sells Consumers on ‘Art’ of Coffee

The pitch to consumers from most of the world’s largest retail coffee sellers has always been, and will likely continue to be, affordability, familiarity and taste consistency.

This has been the case for Canadian coffee giant Tim Horton’s, which holds a whopping 80 percent share of the Canadian coffee market. Up to now, the company’s marketing efforts have routinely appealed to its strong Canadian base, drawing on the concepts of familial homecomings, a sense of place, and cross-country loyalty.

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But Tim Horton’s is breaking character with its newest marketing effort, in which the company is for the first time attempting to sell consumers on coffee quality and craftsmanship. Working with its longtime creative agency, JWT in Toronto, the company has released a commercial that promotes the everyday Tim Horton’s cup as a “work of art.” The commercial took 17 days to shoot, incorporating stop-motion photography.

“Despite the fact that Tim Hortons has nearly 80% share of all takeout coffee in Canada, most Canadians don’t realize the care and craftsmanship that goes into every cup of Tim Hortons coffee,” JWT said in an announcement of the new commercial. “This commercial was designed to change that.”