The world’s hottest “new” ad market has yet another contender joining its fast-growing ranks.
Independent creative shop Gut has officially opened its fourth office in three years, this time heading north of its Miami headquarters to Toronto where a 40-person team will handle agency-of-record duties for a very appropriate inaugural client: Canada’s favorite coffee chain, Tim Hortons.
Restaurant Brands International-owned Tim Hortons had previously been working with Gut Miami on various campaigns for the past three years, but opted to hand its top creative duties to the Toronto office after news broke earlier this year that Gut would be heading to Canada.
Although now an international chain with nearly 5,000 locations in North America, Europe and Asia, Tim Hortons’ roots are deeply tied to Canada. The company was founded in the 1960s by a Canadian hockey player-turned-entrepreneur named—you guessed it—Tim Horton in Hamilton, Ontario, about 40 miles southwest of Toronto.
“We’ve always loved the work coming out of Canada, and we have so much respect for this market,” says Gaston Bigio, Miami-based co-founder of the creative shop that was recently named Ad Age’s No. 7 A-List Agency of the Year.
“We came here wanting to create the most iconic work that both Tim Hortons and the Canadian market deserve, so we’re proud and excited to share our creative ambitions with the most iconic brand in Canada,” he says.