Tim Hortons missing the point with PR push on payment?

Tim Hortons Inc. will now allow its customers to, wait for it, use their American Express cards to load up on their daily fix of coffee and doughnuts.

In fact, it’s the third form of credit card payment accepted at the iconic Canadian chain behind MasterCard (since 2007) and Visa (since 2012). Press releases were sent out when those widely accepted payment methods were announced, too.

But for American Express Canada to kick off Monday with news of this expansion to its “everyday spend” category is kind of like bragging about being the third largest city in Manitoba. (Sorry, Steinbach, but watch out, Portage la Prairie is nipping at your heels.)

Yet today through Aug. 18, Canadians can expect to see and hear “an integrated radio, digital and social media marketing campaign” to spread the word about this new corporate relationship.

"We are excited to share this news,” Jennifer Hawkins, vice-president and general manager for merchant services with American Express Canada, said in statement. "We know that our card members want to use their Amex, not just for big ticket items but for everyday purchases like filling up their car, shopping at the pharmacy or grocery store and picking up a coffee and panini at Tim Hortons.”

In a joint press release, Tim Hortons president Roland Walton simply added that customers would now have “even greater payment convenience.”

But the Oakville, Ont.-based purveyor an ever-expanding array of foods and beverages been struggling lately and is probably happy to have some good news, no matter how slight.

During its recent first-quarter update, Tim Hortons reported a slide in same-store sales, which marked an unenviable first for it as a publicly-traded company. Tim Hortons is still trying to make a name for itself in the United States, where it faces stiff competition and doesn’t exactly enjoy the same kind of brand recognition of its double-double devotees in Canada. And recently, a New York-based hedge fund issued a sternly worded “wake-up call” to Tim Hortons’ board of directors critical of the company’s chronic “underperformance.” That followed on the heels of a similar missive from another U.S. hedge fund, which was also determined to stir things up north of the border.

The PR push

But there’s something else going on in the corporate kitchens of North America.

While the media sector – particularly the newspaper world - continues to contract with shrinking advertising revenue, pay wall problems, layoffs and buyouts, the public relations industry is exploding

According to Service Canada, a “significant rising trend in employment should continue over the next few years.”

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics actually put numbers to the development and projected public relations employment to jump by 21 per cent from 2010 to 2020, which far outpaces the average (14 per cent) for all occupations.

“Growth,” according to the U.S. government, “… will be driven by the need for organizations to maintain their public image in a high-information age and with the growth of social media.”

Meanwhile, Ottawa pointed out that in a world increasingly fixated on information, it’s the job of PR folks to manage corporate image and persuasively position messages in the media.

Despite recent groans from investors, Tim Hortons has done much to crow about lately.

For years, it has been sending children to camp and last month it announced it raised a record $11.8-million in its Camp Day coffee sales promotion. Meanwhile, its specially created Alberta Rose doughnuts have been selling like, well, hotcakes with all the proceeds from the $1 pastries earmarked for southern Alberta flood relief through the Red Cross. Sales of about 140,000 of the tasty treats were reported last week – Friday was the last day of the campaign – adding to the previously announced corporation donation of $100,000.

But these are the dog days of summer when news is generally scant and all those PR pros need to keep busy - even if it’s announcing just another retailer accepting a common form of payment.