Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shop Rings In Holiday Season with Tacky Sweater Campaign

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Nov 20, 2014, 08:00 ET

U.S. restaurant chain leverages brand influencers for festive fun

DUBLIN, OH, Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - As part of the brand's holiday celebrations, Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shop is launching its 2014 holiday packaging with the help of some of the country's top social media creators.

Drawing on inspiration from this year's dressed up holiday cup, Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shop's "Tims Tacky Sweater" social campaign leverages leading social influencers and everyday guests.

Fans are encouraged to share their tacky sweater moments on Twitter, Instagram and Vine using #TimsTackySweater. To reward festive fun seekers, the bakery cafe chain will be surprising and delighting hash tag users with prize packs all season long.

Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shop's U.S. restaurants are stocked with tacky sweater-branded packaging. The hot beverage cup is adorned in a warm and festive design reminiscent of a vintage Fair Isle knit sweater—a style often chosen as a costume for ugly sweater parties. The cup back reads "Even our cups get dressed up for the holidays!" with the campaign hash tag.

The bakery cafe chain also will be promoting tackiness offline in its U.S. markets, including activations with America's Thanksgiving Parade, regional Goodwill stores, NHL and NFL teams and local city events. Tacky Sweater Party ambassadors will be visiting office holiday parties across the country, serving Tim Hortons Dark Roast coffee and the seasonal Dark Chocolate Hot Chocolate, dressed in tacky sweaters of course.

"This year we wanted to celebrate the holidays in a unique fashion" said Mike Meilleur, executive vice president, Tim Hortons U.S. "Our 2014 holiday packaging allowed us to have a little fun and participate in the tacky sweater phenomenon in our own special way. We wanted to embrace the tacky sweater and also encourage our U.S. guests to show us their creativity and personal experience with the brand."

Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shop teamed up with New York-based firm, Niche, and Columbus, Ohio-based firm, SEEN, to incorporate Internet celebrities into the campaign. These online personalities are curating tacky sweater content to be shared on their own and Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shop social channels. The creators range from photographers and Vine stars to pets and fashionistas, some of which include:

Toast Meets World – Toast is a King Charles Cavalier breed rescue that continues to delight 122,400 Instagram followers with musings on fashion, culture and more.
KC James – Vine celebrity KC James entertains more than 4 million followers with popular comedy sketches based on slices of everyday situations.
Hilary Knight – Hilary is a professional hockey player with two Olympic Silver Medals, four World Championship titles and a dedicated twitter following of more than 45,400 fans hanging on her every tweet.

Meilleur added that Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shop looked to partner with influencers who embody strong creativity, a love of coffee and share the brand's friendly and fun personality.

"There is so much clutter pushed out to consumers during the holidays," he said. "Our approach this year was to work with relatable, creative social innovators and actual guests to help us tell their holiday stories."

To follow all things tacky this season, search #TimsTackySweater.

About Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shop
Tim Hortons is one of the largest publicly-traded restaurant chains in North America based on market capitalization. Operating in the quick service segment of the restaurant industry, Tim Hortons appeals to a broad range of consumer tastes, with a menu that includes premium coffee, espresso-based beverages, specialty teas, home-style soups, fresh sandwiches, grilled panini, wraps, hot breakfast sandwiches and fresh baked goods, including our trademark donuts. As of September 28, 2014, Tim Hortons had 869 restaurants in the United States and 4,590 restaurants systemwide. To learn more about Tim Hortons Cafe & Bake Shop, visit www.timhortons.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vine @TimHortonsUS.

SOURCE Tim Hortons