Timothy’s World Coffee is putting the focus on its middle name through a new partnership with the Vienna Tourist Board that aims to bring Austria’s coffee house culture to Canada.
The promotion includes a new Viennese product line of coffee and baked goods–promoted with in-house materials–and a contest for Canadian consumers to win two trips to Vienna.
To kick off the promotion, world-champion Austrian barista Franz Grünwald hosted a public demonstration and discussion yesterday on the art of brewing the perfect cup of coffee at Timothy’s Bay Street Toronto location.
Timothy’s senior brand manager Luana Guglielmi said the effort helps further differentiate the brand from its Canadian competitors.
“I don’t think you’ll be seeing Tim Hortons team up with the Italian board of tourism,” Guglielmi said. “Tim’s focuses on the Canadiana thing and its been incredibly successful for them. But our name is Timothy’s World Coffee and has been for 30-plus years. It’s all about that point of differentiation, bringing in coffee from around the world to Canada.”
This is the first of what Guglielmi hopes will become an annual promotion, highlighting a new destination every year.
“This is our test to see how Canadians gravitate towards the international experience,” she said. “I think there is a broad enough audience in Canada… Our logo is a compass and that will be higlighted more in our cafe designs in the near future. The compass obviously represents world travel, which is where this type of promotion ties in perfectly.”
Timothy’s retail coffee chain was acquired by the U.S.-based Bruegger’s Enterprises last year. Guglielmi said the Vienna partnership is just the latest example of the new owners’ commitment to building the brand. New cafe retail designs are set to be unveiled early next year.
“Since the ownership change, there has been a very clear focus on building this brand and allotting the appropriate resources to brand building, unit expansion and aligning marketing and operations efficiency,” said Guglielmi. “Bruegger’s philosophy is very much about the customer experience.”
