The Era of the Celebrity Meal
The New York Times
Fast-food chains are hungry for celebrity partners to drive sales and appeal to younger consumers. The method is working.
On a Friday afternoon in the spring of 2020, Hope Bagozzi, the chief marketing officer at the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons, was on a Zoom call with representatives for Justin Bieber.
The agenda for the meeting? Exploring a possible partnership between the two Canadian greats.
The call was business-as-usual but took a surreal turn when suddenly, Ms. Bagozzi remembered, a black box that had been silent on the screen turned on, revealing the presence of Mr. Bieber himself. He spoke about how much he enjoyed eating Timbits, the restaurant’s bite-size doughnuts. At one point, Mr. Bieber pulled out a guitar to perform a song about Tim Hortons that he used to sing to his siblings.
