This story appears in the May 2015 issue of strategy.

Gold: In-store engagement
Gold: Out of the Box Retail
Silver: Original Idea

To celebrate its 50 years in business, Tim Hortons wanted to pay homage to the role it’s played in communities across Canada. The idea was to show how Tim Hortons’ team members impact lives, and spark a conversation with consumers and potential new staff.

To illustrate that the brand is a part of Canadian homes, agency Taxi transformed a regular house overnight into a fully-functioning restaurant in a small Calgary neighbourhood. It featured elements of a Tim Hortons restaurant, such as the iconic neon sign out front.

The next morning, personalized invitations were dropped off at nearby houses, and Tim Hortons’ staff even helped neighbours with their chores for the day. Small tent cards with the hashtag #TimsNextDoor were placed around the house and encouraged guests to share news of the pop-up on social media, extending the experience to Tims fans across the country.

More than 500 visitors visited the six-hour pop-up Tim Hortons store. It generated 12.3 million organic social media impressions, 78 million earned impressions through 202 individual news stories and #TimsNextDoor became a trending hashtag in Canada.

Credits:

Advertiser: Tim Hortons
VP, organization development: Stephanie Hardman
Manager, field services: Marla Bolanos
HR field services specialist: Lauren Barclay
Senior manager, public affairs: Olga Petrycki
Agency: Taxi
ECD: Jeff MacEachern
ACD: Kelsey Horne, Alexis Bronstorph
AD: Damon Crate
CW: Marc Levesque
Group account director: Jessica Lax
Account director: Krista Cressman
Account manager: Rhianna Padamsey
Agency planners: Trevor Thomas, Brandon Smith
Executive producer: Steve Emmens
Producer: Raj Dhillon
Print producer: Laura Dubcovsky
Mac artist: Pam Cohen
Production house: Corkscrew Media / Stir Films
Director: Blake Horobin
Production house executive producer: Brent Kawchuk
Production design: Les Fraser
Cinematographer: Mike Sorel
Editor: Nick Light
Video post facility / editing company: Corkscrew Media
Colourist / transfer: Nick Light – Corkscrew Media
Audio post facility / music house: Six Degrees Music/Sound
Music director: Dan McManus
Media agency: Mindshare
PR agency: Paradigm PR