Coca Cola Marketing Mix
Introduction
The company under investigation in this study is Tim Hortons, a coffee and fresh-baked goods quick-service restaurant, originating from Canada. As of January 2006, (Annual Report 2005, P.1) Tim Hortons operated 2,597, mostly franchised, stores in Canada and 288 in the US. Tim Hortons boasts a 76% market share in the Canadian coffee and fresh-baked goods sector (Shareholder’s Report 2005, P.6) and “based on sales dollars, Tim Hortons is now almost 25% larger than its closest QSR (quick-service restaurant) competitor in Canada.” (Ibid) Since 1995, Tim Hortons has been owned by the American company, Wendy’s International. (Palmar 2005, Harris 2005)
Tim Hortons was named ‘Best Managed Brand’ and ‘Most Admired Corporate Culture’ by Canadian Business Magazine (Shareholder’s Report 2005, P.6) and Marketing Magazine named Tim Hortons its 2004 ‘Marketer of the Year’ “for its winning formula of product advertising, unpretentious advertising, smart partnerships and status as a national icon.” (Harris 2005) The approach Tim Hortons has adopted has been “relentlessly patriotic” (Parmar 2005) and their advertisements “try to reinforce what we do in the community, what our core products are and what our core values are.” (Cathy Whelan Molloy, VP of Brand Marketing & Merchandising in Harris 2005) Its marketing strategy focuses on “emphasising its community ties.” (Palmar 2005)
Their long-term goals include:
• Extend the Tim Hortons brand into new markets (Shareholder’s Report 2005, P.6)
• Leveraging system to lower supply costs, develop new products with healthy profit margins & reduce expenses (Ibid)
• To have between 3,500 and 4,000 system restaurants in Canada (Ibid)
• To have 500 stores in the US by the end of 2008 (Ibid)
• Review testing results of a cashless ‘Tim Card,’ designed to speed up queues (Harris 2005)
• Instil a more...
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