Canadian Expatriates, its contributors, and readers have been invited by Foreign Affairs Canada to participate in a series of eDiscussions. The current topic is “Showcasing Canadian Culture and Know-How Abroad”.

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What role does Canadian culture and know-how play in our foreign policy?

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The eDiscussion runs from April 4 to May 6, 2005. At its conclusion, a summary of the discussion will be sent to senior policy planners.

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There is an interesting discussion going on here.

Bethanie has posed the question why is "so much of modern Canadian cultural identity is based on a coffee shop"? It is definitely a topic that deserves some exploration!

The man for the job to answer that question would be Steve Penfold. Penfold wrote his masters thesis on the sociological aspects of Canadian doughnut shops, including Tim Hortons. For his research, he won the 1999 Ig Nobel Prize. Sadly, we at Canadian Expatriates, do not have the number to Steve's red phone so you are stuck with my inane ramblings on the subject.

There is no denying that Tim Hortons is one of the most successful companies that has ever come out of Canada. With franchises springing up every couple of blocks, it is hard not to notice its presence. Those franchises, though, are not just mom and pop operations. Certainly they do take on the flavour of the area in which they are established, but through the power of branding, you can always rely on the service and the product being consistent. According to Tim Hortons' executive vice president of marketing, "People do not experience our brand through radio and TV spots. They experience it over the counter every time they order a coffee, knowing that they are going to get it fast, fresh, and at a good price." To ensure this, employees at every new franchise must undergo seven weeks of training.

Although the ad executive tries to play down the commercials, there is something to be said for Tim Hortons marketing. The company's commercials are certainly memorable and they do play on a sense of Canadian national pride and identity. In all honesty, Canadians have had a difficult time defining themselves. As a nation, we try so hard to distance ourselves from our powerful neighbours to the south that we end up defining ourselves more as "not American" than as Canadian. That is what made Molson Canadian's "I am Joe and I am Canadian" ad campaign so successful. It provided Canadians with a tangible sense of national identity, even if it really was just highlighting the differences between the two nations.

Tim Horton's ad campaign, on the other hand, actually did supply Canadians with that missing sense of identity. To promote the 1999 "Roll Up the Rim" contest, a television spot began airing which featured a Canadian proving his citizenship to a border guard by declaring "Rrrrrroll up the rrrrrim!". Not long after that, border guards reported an insurgence of Canadians using the shtick to enter the country. Another successful commercial for Tim Hortons was one that featured a Canadian student studying abroad in Scotland. Homesick, the student wrote a letter to Tim Hortons and received a care package in the mail. In the package was a Hortons' coffee maker, coffee, and paper cups. It was a taste of home and a taste of Canadian pop culture.

At the same time as the clever marketing campaigns, This Hour has 22 Minutes and The Royal Canadian Air Farce were featuring skits set in coffee shops. Even the movie Wayne's World spoofed Tim Horton's when the characters went to the fictional coffee shop "Stan Mikita's", the name of another former NHLer. As Canadians saw themselves reflected in these shows, it became clear that these shops were not just a place to pick up coffee and a doughnut. They were more than that. In fact, they were a community where people could sit leisurely and visit. Tim Horton's had come to represent that sense of community, and that sense of being Canadian. Isn't it ironic then, that this icon of Canadiana is actually owned by Americans?


Expat Talkback:
What does Tim Hortons represent to you?
What is it that you miss most about being away from Canada?