Very Nice Commercial! (On branding and change and markets and stuff)

Remember my favourite TV commercial? I gave a quick semiotic analysis of it in a previous blog. Looking at the ad from a more businessy point of view, though, I think the ad is brilliant because:

• It seamlessly marshals the growth of a brand, thus effecting the company's overall marketing strategy (which I'm sure involves maximizing its reach in a multicultural market). Through the ad, Tim Horton's manages to welcome the changing boundaries of Canadian identity while still reaffirming the good old "Canadian tradition" branding that has made the company successful. I.e., it moves the meaning of "tradition" from its old "white culture" connotations to embrace something more current, more multicultural.

How do you introduce subtle (but important!) changes to a brand without upsetting the "old tradition" aura that has made it successful? I.e., how do you modernize something without alienating the old? How do you do it in a way that's still believable to your target markets, old and new?

White food (Tim Hortons) + Hockey (Canada, eh?) + Ethnic faces (new, multicultural Canada) + Tradition/Nostalgia for the good old days (sepia tones, flashbacks, historical allusions) = Seamless blending of old and new. "Old Canada" market segment not alienated and "New Canada" market addressed and incorporated. Nice.

I'm no seasoned marketing/branding/change-mgmt pro, but I know that introducing changes can be a tricky situation. It could spell either success or disaster. The "business-minded go-getter" part of me is revelling in the dandy nuances of this Tim Horton's ad. To me, it represents some smart branding, marketing, and change strategies because it has managed to resolve those questions quite well.

*A note: On the Change Strategy side, Tim Horton's has been acquired by American-owned Wendy's, and therefore it's arguably not a Canadian company anymore, as corporate ownership has been transferred to American hands. Yet, Tim Ho still manages to hold on--seamlessly, may I add--to its Canadianism (the core of its brand). Its brand-appropriation strategies (amidst ownership change) have been executed so well that I just have to blog it off. =)

**Readers, please note comment below (re: Tim Horton's ownership).

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