Canadians will now be getting a show with their cuppa Joe at Tim Hortons.
Expanding on a pilot program that began last year in London, Ont., Tim Hortons will soon roll out an in-store TV channel across Canada called TimsTV in an effort to further connect with its customers.
Glenn Hollis, vice-president, brand strategy at Tim Hortons, told Marketing that the company created the channel to share things like news, weather and sports highlights with guests. It will appear on TVs in the seating areas of select Canadian restaurants.
The content, provided by CBC/Ici Radio-Canada, will be streamed daily with each market receiving localized information. TimsTV is produced by Cineplex/EK3.
TimsTV will also feature programming about Tim Hortons’ products and involvement in community activities based on stories shared on Everycup.ca, a consumer interaction website. This could include everything from efforts like its free community skates and swims, Timbits hockey and Camp Day.
Hollis said more than 2,000 TVs will start being installed in February. The goal is to be fully outfitted by this summer.
The company is currently hiring support roles for the network, which will be led by the marketing communications team that Hollis leads.
It is still early to discuss which specific opportunities are built into the network for advertisers, but Hollis confirmed that the company plans to have a select group of advertisers on TimsTV that will be able to advertise nationally or in select key markets.
A list of advertisers is currently being reviewed by his team, but no decision has been made about who they’ll extend the opportunity to, he said.
