Social media sites were displaying Tim Hortons customers’ unhappiness with the new design. In the article, there is a bizarre quote from the Chief Corporate Officer at RBI: “Our head of marketing, who is in charge of packaging, has fallen in love with the Boston cream doughnut … every day I watch him as he gets his Boston cream doughnut, takes it out of the bag, looks at the doughnut and looks at the bag and the top of the Boston cream doughnut is smeared inside the bag.” This emphasis on packaging, while part of tackling aspects of product, seems to ignore the bigger concern: the Tim Hortons brand.Įspecially when you consider that in late 2018 when the new environmentally friendly lid was unleashed on the public, there were many complaints over how spill-prone the new lids were. Which brings us back to the CBC article on Tim Hortons and its lids. The parent company, RBI, went on a listening tour with franchisees, presenting a $700 million revitalization plan focused on improving the stores, coffee and food, along with a plan to better engage the media as well.
#Tim hortons font free
It has become clear that this decline in brand is more of a free fall. Leger, a Canadian market research firm, conducted a similar survey and reported in 2018 that “ Timmies ” had fallen from 4th to 50th in brand reputation.
In the Reputation Institute’s yearly ranking of Canada’s most reputable brand, Tim Hortons fell from 13th place to 67th. But no one expected such a steep decline. With the focus on in-fighting instead of innovation and customer engagement, it was not surprising that Tim Hortons brand was going to take a hit. Some franchisees formed a coalition that has been fighting with the parent company, Restaurant Brands International (RBI), to try and fight the margin squeeze that RBI is accused of making at the expense of franchisees.
The franchisees have become increasingly frustrated over the way that the company has been cutting costs and allocating resources to promote the Tim Hortons brand. Nathan Cullen, an NDP MP in federal parliament spoke out: “If all the companies that employ the customers of Tim Hortons did the same thing that Tim Hortons is doing, Tim Hortons would probably be out of business … seems like a cruel decision, quite vindictive on their part … it doesn’t seem very wholesome.”Īnd that wholesome reputation just continued to take a hit. Politicians even got involved in this unpopular and tone deaf decision. In early 2018, Tim Hortons franchises began to cut coffee breaks (irony?) for its employees, blaming a rise in minimum wage. Reason for concern started in 2017 when a ranking of top Canadian coffee had Tim Hortons in fourth place behind McDonald’s, Second Cup and Starbucks. The company had been able to avoid too much bad press over the years, but as the company grew, it started to lose its grasp on its reputation, thanks to some serious blunders and missteps. And, if you ever visit a Tim Hortons location, you would find a cross-section of society and a real meeting place of Canadians from diverse backgrounds.īut this love affair that Canadians have had with Tim Horton has hit the rocks over the last few years. Tim Hortons is often seen as the manifestation of Canadiana : cofounded by and named after a hockey player sponsor of community events using the name of a popular product line, Timbits purveyor of the most popular sales promotion, “Roll up the Rim to Win” employer of Canadian NHL star Sidney Crosby as a corporate spokesperson. With more than 4000 locations across Canada, it’s hard to go very far before seeing the recognizable colour scheme and font with the “Tim Hortons” writing emblazoned across coffee cups and boxes of donuts. Tim Hortons has been around for decades in Canada, and over that time the company has built a reputation as a quintessential Canadian brand. Sitting down and having a “ Timmies ” has become a national pastime akin to watching a hockey game.
The title of an article on the CBC website in the summer of 2018 read: “Tim Hortons hopes to rebuild its brand with better lid, new marketing campaign.” While there is a relationship between packaging and marketing, it is a bit concerning that a lid is taking precedence to a fundamental review of Tim Hortons’ marketing efforts.