Tim Horton's Case Study

Tim Hortons: A case in Brand Reputation Missteps

Sitting down and having a "Timmies" has become a national pastime, like watching a Calgary Flames hockey game on a Saturday night. Tim Hortons has been around for decades in Canada, and over that time the company has built a reputation as a classic Canadian brand. 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" logo imprinted across coffee cups and boxes of donuts.

Tim Hortons is often seen as the example of Canadiana: cofounded by and named after a hockey player; sponsor of community events using the name of a popular product line, Timbits; inventor of the popular "Roll up the Rim to Win" sales promotion, employer of Canadian NHL star Sidney Crosby as a corporate spokesperson. And, if you ever visit a Tim Hortons location, you will find a cross-section of society and a real meeting place of Canadians from diverse backgrounds.

But this love affair that Canadians have had with Tim Horton has hit the rocks over the last few years. 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. In early 2018, Tim Hortons franchises began to cut coffee breaks for its employees, blaming a rise in minimum wage. Politicians got involved in this unpopular and tone-deaf decision. 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 [this] seems like a cruel decision, quite vindictive on their part it doesn't seem very wholesome."

Later that year Tim Hortons committed another blunder. In response to public pressure, Tim Hortons announced a new environmentally friendly lid. However, there were many complaints over how spill-prone the new lids were. Social media sites were displaying Tim Hortons customers' unhappiness with the new design. Even though the company had been able to avoid too much bad press over the years, it started to lose its grasp on its reputation as grew, thanks to some serious blunders and missteps.

It was not surprising that Tim Hortons brand was going to take a hit. But no one expected such a steep decline. In the Reputation Institute's yearly ranking of Canada's most reputable brand, Tim Hortons fell from 13th place to 67th. 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. It has become clear that this decline in brand is more of a free fall.

As a result, the Tim Hortons presented a $700 million revitalization plan focused on improving the stores, coffee and food, along with a plan to better engage the media as well.

Sources:

CBC Lids article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tim-hortons-lids-1.4787699

Review of Tim Hortons issues: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/09/tim-hortons- canada-coffee-brand-popularity-downfall

Reputation Institute report: https://www.thestar.com/business/2018/05/23/tim-hortons-falls- from-13th-to-67th-in-ranking-of-canadas-most-reputable-companies.html

Leger report and franchisee issues: https://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/the-tim- hortons-brand-is-badly-broken-heres-how-to-fix-it/

Tim Hortons brand issues: https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/tim-hortons-reputation-is- tanking-after-a-year-of-stumbles-and-bitter-feuds/

Coffee ranking report: https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-results-are-in-tim-hortons- is-no-longer-canadas-favourite-coffee-shop/

NDP quote: https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-hypocrisy-of-a-tim-hortons-a- business-built-on-coffee-breaks/

New lid issues: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2018/12/06/tim-hortons-new-lids/

New lid issues: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2018/12/06/tim-hortons-new-lids/

Question 51 (1 point)

Listen

Which is not a consideration of product packaging?

Question 51 options:

	consistency of persuasive labelling
	convenience
	ease of promotion
	ease of recycling or disposal

Question 52 (1 point)

Listen

Tim Horton's created TimBits cereal to appeal to a younger market. This product's weakness was determined to be:

Question 52 options:

	that it didn't mix well with coffee
	that Tim Horton's didn't sell it at their stores
	that the product packaging was boring
	that it was too far outside the current product offerings

Question 53 (1 point)

Listen

Considering their recent challenges shared in the case study, the promotional mix offering that might help the brand the most would be:

Question 53 options:

	public relations
	SEO
	direct advertising
	digital advertising

Question 54 (1 point)

Listen

Recently, Tim Horton's started featuring a television commercial featuring Wayne Gretzky, a retired male Canadian hockey player (active from 1979-1999) and Hayley Wickenheiser, a retired female Canadian hockey player (active from 1197-2017) to promote the new hockey cards sold a Tim Hortons. These commericals are an example of:

Question 54 options:

	mass communication
	face-to-face communication
	interpersonal communication
	direct communication

Question 55 (1 point)

Saved

Listen

Tim Horton's is trademarked. This means they are protected by legislation that:

Question 55 options:

	regulates and protects trade names and trademarks.
	ensures that small- and medium-sized enterprises have an equitable opportunity to participate in the Canadian economy.
	requires that textile articles bear accurate and meaningful labelling information to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions.
	prohibits false or misleading representations and sets out specifications for mandatory label information.