How does the new Tim Hortons' 'Roll Up The Rim' contest work?

Tim Hortons changes the Roll Up The Rim contest Tim Hortons is going digital with its popular Roll Up The Rim contest. CTV's Sean Grech explains.

TORONTO — Tim Hortons’ annual “Roll Up the Rim To Win” contest is back, but not how you’ve come to know it.

The company said it is modernizing its popular 35-year-old contest to focus more on reducing waste, according to a press release.

The four-week promotion is scheduled to kick off on March 11, when customers will begin getting their to-go coffees in disposable cups featuring the familiar rims that unfurl to reveal whether they’ve won.

But contestants can only physically roll up the rim during the first two weeks of the month-long contest, when Tim Hortons will stop distributing the paper cups. Instead, for the last two weeks, customers can only roll up their rims digitally, by using an app or visiting a website.

Here’s a look at how Tim Hortons says its revised contest will work this year:

USING REGULAR PAPER CUPS GETS YOU ONE ROLL:

Between March 11 and April 7, hot beverages will be sold in the familiar “Roll Up the Rim To Win” paper cups, giving customers one chance to win a prize.

In the last two weeks, Tim Hortons says it will stop serving hot drinks in the contest cups, and will instead give customers a chance to virtually “roll up their rims” on the Tim Hortons app or online.

USING TIM REWARDS CARDS GETS YOU TWO ROLLS:

Unregistered Tims rewards cardholders

Tims Rewards cardholders who haven’t registered the app, essentially logging in with contact information, can present the card in the contest’s first two weeks to receive two chances at a prize: one on the cup and another on the app or website.

Then, in the last two weeks when Tims stops selling the contest cups, customers will only get a digital “roll” with their purchase. And here’s a catch: cardholders can accumulate chances to win, but won’t actually be able to see if they did until they register the app.

People have two weeks after the promotion ends, until April 21, to register their card and play their digital “rolls.”

Registered Tims Rewards cardholders

In the first two weeks of the contest, customers who have already registered their Tims Rewards card on the store’s app will get two digital chances with each hot drink purchase. The last two weeks, they'll only recieve one digital "roll" on their app or online.

USING A REUSABLE CUP GETS YOU THREE ROLLS:

Throughout the entire promotion, people who purchase a hot beverage in a reusable cup or mug will receive three digital rolls which they can redeem on the app or online.

Starting on the eve of the contest, March 10, Tim Hortons says it will be giving away 1.8 million reusable hot beverage cups for free.

“We will reward guests who make the sustainable choice by using a reusable cup and scanning their Tims Rewards card with three digital rolls,” Tim Hortons’ Chief Marketing Officer Hope Bagozzi said.

Prizes up for grabs include 200 Samsung TVs, 150 $1,000 CIBC Prepaid Cards and 10 2020 Hyundai IONIQ Electric or Hybrid Vehicles.