Wednesday, August 18, 2004

THE DOMINION OF TIM HORTON'S

Somehow, over the past six or seven years, through an incredibly annoying yet remarkably insidious advertising campaign, coffee and doughnut behemoth Tim Horton's has defined their stores as an integral facet of the Canadian identity. However, not satisfied with a cultural status normally reserved for health-care and hockey, Tim's is stepping up its campaign and taking it on the road, so to speak.

Tim Horton's is currently running an ad during CBC's blanket coverage of the Olympic Games that not-so-subtly attempts to replace the Maple Leaf as the identifying image that Canadians carry abroad.

The ad in question adopts the typical sappy Tim Horton's style that has become its signature and depicts a young Canadian kid backpacking thorough Europe and taking a break to write home. If you haven't yet seen the commercial I'm sure you can, at this point, imagine the intermixing of Tim Horton's images with the stereotypical 'Canadian-abroad' experience. Anyway, the young kid in his letter home, relates that he is continually running into fellow Canadian travelers who notice him, not because of the requisite flag on his backpack, but because of his Tim Horton's Travel Mug that he totes everywhere. Needless to say, whether in London or Paris (the original ones) Canadians flock to the Tim mug immediately recognizing it as the image of Canada.

Perhaps one day we will not only be watching Tim Horton's commercials during the Olympics but waving the Tim Horton's flag at the Olympics. The advertising campaign is working.

Post-Script: As the summer winds down it's a little tough to get back into the blogging groove. I imagine things won't fully pick up again until September when I'm both settled in Kingston and things worth writing about start happening again.

Posted by Matthew @ 6:04 p.m.