I had never heard of Tim Hortons before I moved to Canada two years ago. Now, it has become my favorite place for a coffee break. On August 26th, the Canada-based Tim Hortons and the U.S.-based fast food giant, Burger King joined hands to create the third largest quick service restaurant in the world. The new company now has over 18,000 restaurants in 100 countries and generates total sales of $23 billion.

In Yinuo’s blog, she mentions that Tim Hortons will have more opportunities to expand internationally after the merge. I agree with her because Burger King has strong brand recognition worldwide. In the recent  years, Burger King has exponentially increased the number of restaurants overseas. Therefore, it is able to offer Tim Hortons more international exposure. As Yinuo says in her post, Tim Hortons has struggled with expanding in America. I think in order to be successful in other countries, Tim Hortons should have a different marketing strategy than the domestic one. In fact, Tim Hortons’ marketing scheme highlights people’ s patriotism by positioning itself as a symbol of Canadian identity and national pride. However, solely relying on consumers’ passion for Canadian pride is not going to appeal to people in other parts of the world. Instead, by emphasizing on the high quality and freshness of drinks and food, Tim Hortons can build a better brand awareness and therefore, attract more customers worldwide.