The Challenge
Tim Hortons, a Canadian food and beverage brand known around the world, brings its coffee, bakery items and Timbits to Thailand. Bangkok was its first market in South East Asia, and Thai customers knew very little about the brand or its history.
Tim Hortons wanted a campaign to raise awareness of the brand in Thailand’s highly competitive food and beverage market. The first task was to introduce Thai customers to the brand and get them excited about its hero products, coffee and Timbits.
The brand expected its menu, with Timbits and a wide range of drinks, to appeal to Thai customers despite the strong competition.
Our Approach
Pre-Launch
Primal researched how to connect Thai customers with the brand, using the brand’s core values as the starting point. The research found that Thailand and Canada share many values, including kindness, national sports, distinctive food, the importance of family, diversity and openness.
Strategy
The campaign direction drew on what both countries have in common. Its first phase set out to connect Thai customers with the brand and teach them about its values and identity. To do this, Primal introduced Uncle Tim, a Canadian uncle visiting Thailand for the first time. The first piece of content, ‘A Trip from Canada to Thailand’, followed Uncle Tim from Canada to Bangkok with his favourite Tim Hortons products.
On his first visit, Uncle Tim travelled around Bangkok and took in Thai culture. He began to see the links between his country, his products and Thailand. Seeing what both countries share and how they differ, he decided to open Tim Hortons in Bangkok.
Brand Launch
At launch, the campaign promoted the hero products so people could discover the range served at Tim Hortons. The well-known Original Red Cup appeared throughout to help people remember the brand. The creative showed Timbits, doughnuts and coffee in a playful, lively way, to give the brand a friendly, easy-going and approachable image.
Brand Showcase
After the launch, the content turned to a showcase of the products, to bring people into the stores. Primal matched products with the audience insights from the earlier phase, so each post showed products likely to appeal to its target audience. Together, the posts showed the wide range served in store.
The campaign also targeted other groups of likely customers, such as people who enjoy smoothies or sweet food and people who choose a healthy lifestyle. Most were women in their 20s. Primal made bright stop-motion videos for smoothies such as matcha, strawberry and mango, going from the raw ingredients to the finished drink, so that viewers would share them with their friends.
Outcomes Achieved
Primal designed and ran a creative campaign across several social media platforms under the theme ‘The Journey from Canada to Bangkok’, linking the brand with its new home. Primal also set the media strategy to reach the target audience and raise awareness online.
- 27M+Audience Reached
- 67,736%Growth in Fans
- 33.5M+Impressions on Facebook
Key Insights
- The campaign started from values Thailand and Canada share, such as kindness, family, diversity and openness.
- A character, Uncle Tim, introduced the brand as a Canadian visitor seeing Bangkok for the first time.
- The Original Red Cup appeared across the launch content so people would remember the brand.
- The campaign reached an audience of 27M+ and made 33.5M+ impressions on Facebook.
