Tim Horton’s Duelling Donuts social campaign was inspired by the immense popularity of the Duelling Donuts Facebook app where users were encouraged to create their fantasy donuts and submit their creations. The social campaign took the initial idea to another level as each phase of the contest introduced a new level of engagement and excitement for the fans of the brand; ultimately casting Jason Priestly as the celebrity judge to help select a winner for the contest.

Phase 1 - Awareness

The primary objective of the first phase was to introduce the contest, create awareness and encourage participation among fans. The creative set the tone of the contest and encouraged fans to use their imagination while creating their donuts in addition to adding personal customized touches such as coming up with witty names for their creations.

Phase 2 - Voting

Following the submission phase, the next task at hand was to encourage Tim Horton’s Facebook fans to vote for their favourite donut. Each donut had its individual illustration, which showcased its unique characteristics alongside its personalized name. Fans were driven to the Facebook app to vote through a combination of Tweets and Facebook posts that were consistent with the Duelling Donuts illustrations.

Phase 3 - Judging

Based on the number of votes, the submitted donuts were narrowed down to eight and we took this opportunity to kick up the creative style. Since one donut was eliminated everyday, this phase was constantly updating and we decided to create a gallery with 8 unique profiles for the remaining donuts, in addition to a distinct profile signifying the elimination from the duel for the donuts that did not make the cut. The profile of the eliminated donut was a faded version of the original post with a bold “Crumbled” written across.

Phase 4 - Final

When we finally reached the last 4 finalists, I made two fight posters that featured the duelling pair with a “V.S” written in between to encourage fans to pick sides. While each phase of the contest increasingly gained traction on the app, this move in particular significantly increased engagement. For the next couple of days we continued to encourage voting among fans by both showcasing the distinctions among each duelling pair in addition to drawing attention to the winning prize. After a few days, we finally had a winner who was featured as the star on Facebook!

 

…and the winner is!

Role: Art Director
Agency: OgilvyOne