I missed the original airing of this commerical during the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics in back Feb as, understandably, Timmys elected not to buy airtime on US channels.

This spot shows why Tim Horton’s is #1 in Canada.

It works on some many different levels that it literally covers the entire gamut of ways of ways to connect with the audience.  It’s the quintessential hockey story (doesn’t get more Canadian then that).  It’s an immigrant story about different generations coming to terms with the country they live in called Canada.  It’s a story of fathers and sons and for all the CBC’s out there (to which there are many) it’s about connecting with our parents.  “Give me my picture back!” I can so imagine my dad saying that.

…and fade to the product shot at the end of the spot.

Kudos to the Timmys marketing team for putting all that together.  I have a hard time figuring out if the tearing up every time I watch it is from the emotional heart of the story or my appreciating of the marketing genius of the spot. 

As long as they can keep that Timmy’s brand marketing team together, I’m gonna have no problem owning NYSE:THI, it’s practically like owning a piece of Canada.  Props to those guys from transforming Timmys from obscure regional donut chain to national institution on par with Hockey, the Mounties and our national healthcare system. 

BTW, you can find the extended version of the spot here but to my mind, the shorter version is so much better.

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