Tim Hortons Banners and Ads
Creative Direction, strategy, design, production
A variety of engaging mini-stories that perfectly encapsulate the brand
There’s not much more ignored than the lowly banner. But that doesn’t mean there’s not room for a story to be told.
It varies by product or season, campaign or innovation but the goal is to always get eyes on an ad, and encourage click-through.
THE ASK
Nobody likes them, and for the majority of the occasions an interaction with them was an accident with a mouse. That said, there’s still an opportunity to deliver consistent branded messaging, and provide some kind of information even if click-through never occurs.. either on purpose or by misstep.
THE INSIGHT
Bold colour, humour, movement and the un-expected are the tools to get eyes on a banner. Creating something that tells a small story but works equally as well when viewed as a single frame is the task. A clearly branded but product first environment that encourages click-through but delivers the information regardless is the outcome.
THE STRATEGY
Banner buys at one time let you do some crazy stuff. Expandable’s, vokens, full site take-overs and leaderboards talking to skyscrapers talking to big boys; it was the wild west, had a lot of fun on occasion.
Breakfast wraps
Concept
When Tim Hortons was introducing their breakfast wrapped sandwich, I came forth with the idea of having a simple breakfast of eggs and sausage with some cheese just starting to melt, then swiftly wrapping itself into a Tims breakfast wrap before transitioning to the end screen and call to action.
A full food styled photo-shoot was put together at Tim Hortons head office to get client approved “before” and “after” breakfast meals.
Ads ran at both regular rich-media formats and as separate floating vokens (where the breakfast rolled into a floating wrap).
Production
Everyone knows the feeling of those hot and sticky summer days. Heat is unrelenting, the pavement seems to be mirroring the sun back at you and the cicada’s are singing their announcement of the temperature to anyone that will listen.
There’s nothing better to beat those toasty vibes than with some icy refreshment, and Tim Hortons Iced Capp does the trick.
This design incorporated the traditional Tim Hortons brand colour and identity, but played off the distinctive red with the notion of those blistering summer days. The banner opens with an animated thermometer and accompanying copy appearing, before introducing the product and transitioning to a cool environment and promising the product attributes. Our story pays off with the core idea as the tagline, and holds on the final screen for a price point display.
Iced Capp
The favourite little treat that starts off every road-trip, or comes along for a day at the lake.
It’s summer time, and the Timbits box became the hero of this piece. Its top opens ever so and waves shoot out to remind our audience of Timbits at the beach. The box leans slightly and begins to pop out fireworks for the Canada day celebrations, then moves again as a kite flies out… These summer activities became the concept of the ad, as they tied into a Facebook campaign of an interactive Timbits Summer Checklist.
The core idea of the 10 piece grab-pack was to both pique the audience into thinking of their own use occasions, and remind them that whatever they were up to this summer, Timbits were ready to come along.
The final hold screen invited users to the Tim Hortons Facebook page for an interactive Timbits summer checklist, and utilized a character that was in other forms of marketing too.
Timbits
Informed by the brand team that they can barely keep hats in stock, this years offering was ready to fly off the shelves and the only job to be done was to inform folks it had arrived. No need to try and sell on the benefits, the product or the style; just let folks know it was available.
The only request; “Have some fun with this”.
Fun was had.
Tims Ball Caps
To build on the success of the baseball hat, for the colder season Tim Hortons brought a toque and scarf set into existence (the perfect holiday gift!).
Tossing ideas around of Tims haute couture, one of the managers mentioned having purchased a new snowblower and was looking forward to using it. The fashion shoot pretty much was pitched on the spot. The shoot was set up at Tim Hortons head office, the snowblower was brought in and the brand team spent the day enjoying the experience (with more than one or two laughs to boot).
Toque and Scarf
