Tim Hortons‘ iconic Roll Up the Rim contest is about to get a lot shorter and more complicated as the coffee chain moves to slash costs while pushing customers to use its mobile app.
It’s also going to involve a lot less rolling, and probably a lot less winning.
The company announced a new set of rules for its annual Roll Up the Rim contest on Wednesday, and those rules are a far cry from what Canadians might be used to.
Essentially, the contest will come and go before you know it — and you won’t see nearly as many discarded roll-up cups lying around this spring. Instead, Canadians will be expected to collect “rolls” through their Tims Rewards account, which can be redeemed online or through the Tim Hortons app.
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Roll Up the Rim will run for four weeks from March 11 until April 7, according to the newly published rules. That’s much shorter than last year, when Tim Hortons ran the promotion for 10 weeks (Feb. 6 until Apr. 17, 2019).
1:54 Tim Hortons changes “Roll Up the Rim”
Tim Hortons changes “Roll Up the Rim”
Additionally, physical roll-up cups will only be available in-store for the first two weeks of the contest. Tim Hortons will hand out digital “rolls” to customers’ accounts for the full four weeks, meaning you can get two entries per coffee over the first 14 days.
Customers who buy a hot drink with a reusable cup will get three digital rolls for all four weeks of the contest.
“Tim Hortons has modernized its iconic contest to allow for a combination of paper, digital and sustainable play,” the company said in a news release announcing the rules on Wednesday.
Tim Hortons also plans to give away 1.8 million reusable cups for free on March 10, just before the contest gets underway.
The company says its efforts will make Tim Hortons more sustainable. However, it’s unclear how that will work, as most customers who earn a digital “roll” will still be buying their coffee in a paper cup — just not one with a prize under the rim.
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Tim Hortons chose a “hybrid” model of paper cups and digital “rolls” to accommodate those who prefer the old way of doing it, according to Hope Bagozzi, the company’s chief marketing officer. However, she also expects the digital app to generate excitement throughout the contest.
“It actually has broader appeal than people might think,” Bagozzi told the Kelly Cutrara Show on Wednesday. “People of all different ages and right across the country are using the digital technology.”
Bagozzi also acknowledged that the digital app allows Tim Hortons to learn more about customers’ habits, but she says that data will not be shared “in any way.”
“The idea is to be able to know what’s relevant to guests,” she said.
“Our small town restaurants serve a rural community, but our guests are just as digital as you would find in bigger cities around the country,” Tanya Doucette, a store owner in Rocky Mountain House, Alta., is quoted as saying in the Tim Hortons news release.
“About half our customers every day are using the Tims Rewards program and I know they will really like the improved chances of winning on the app and the weekly draws of $100,000.”
1:17 Coming soon to the breakfast table: Timbits cereal
Coming soon to the breakfast table: Timbits cereal
However, the push toward a mobile app might leave many technologically challenged Canadians behind — especially since the simple “roll up, tear and redeem” model will be a smaller part of the contest.
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Tim Hortons also appears to have slashed the value of the contest prizes by more than half. The total estimated retail value of all digital and cup prizes this year is $29.9 million, according to the 2020 contest rules. Last year’s total prize value was $71.3 million.
The contest still offers a boatload of gift cards, cars and other major prizes, but Tim Hortons appears to have lowered the odds for its most common prizes: free coffee and food. Last year’s odds were one in six. This year’s odds are one in nine.
The company saw its profits fall in the last quarter, and the new contest rules will clearly help it save millions of dollars in costs. It’s also trying to hold onto its Canadian roots despite being owned by a foreign corporation.
0:51 Justin Bieber rants about Tim Hortons cup lids
Justin Bieber rants about Tim Hortons cup lids
“We’re as Canadian as you get,” Doucette said at a news conference last month, where Tim Hortons tried to reassure Canadians that it’s still part of the country’s identity.
“We intend to start swinging back very hard everywhere that someone says that we’re not Canadian,” chief corporate officer Duncan Fulton added in a separate interview.
He might have some swinging to do once Canadians get wind of the new Roll Up the Rim rules.
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But hey, at least they’re giving people Timbits cereal, right?
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
