How Justin Bieber Saved Tim Hortons
Cindy Ord / Dimitrios Kambouris, Getty Images
What happens when Canada's largest restaurant chain, Tim Hortons, teams up with one of the world's largest pop stars, Justin Bieber? A brand explosion that gives a big lift to the company's bottom line and a scandalous unofficial name for a product that gives fans a serious boost, that's what!
Bieber checked off a lifelong bucket list item when he locked arms with coffeehouse giant Tim Hortons to offer three new Timbit flavors of donut holes.
While the unofficial name of this limited-time collection of breakfast sweets is called, ahem, "Bieber Balls," the company's actual name for the collection is "Timbiebs Timbits."
"Timbiebs Timbits" comes in three delicious flavors picked by Bieber, including chocolate white fudge, sour cream chocolate chip and birthday cake waffle — and no Bieb assortment would be complete without merch, of course.
"Doing a Tim Hortons collab has always been a dream of mine," Bieber said in a statement to the press. "I grew up on Tim Hortons, and it's always been something close to my heart."
Heartstrings and purse strings seem to be attached.
The marketing move helped the Canadian coffee chain's sales spike 10.3 percent at stores open for a year in the fourth quarter of 2021, ultimately reversing the 11 percent decline they experienced previously.
While on an analyst call to discuss the company's financial results, RBI CEO Jose Cil revealed that the Timbiebs promotion "was one of the more successful traffic-driving initiatives in recent memory and outperformed our internal expectations."
The partnership was not only monetarily lucrative but also helped leverage the company's social media presence leading to "unprecedented social engagement and increased appeal with younger guests."
"I'm a Belieber. You can expect to see more from this exciting partnership in the year ahead," Cil said.
Do you have a favorite celebrity endorsement? Justin Timberlake, Michael Jordan and Travis Scott have all teamed up with McDonald's. Likewise, energetic TikTok superstar Charli D'Amelio runs on Dunkin'. Oh, and let us never forget stand-up comedian and actor Amy Schumer joining forces with Tampax.
Sound off on your favorite celebrity collaborations by connecting with us on Twitter at @PopCrush!