After years of refreshing its model, eating places, digital presence and menu, Subway is within the temper for some reflective postgame evaluation.
On the finish of the NFL and faculty bowl seasons, Subway debuted a marketing campaign wanting again on the Subway Collection menu of sandwiches it launched roughly six months earlier. Utilizing a extra lighthearted tackle ESPN’s “30 For 30” documentaries, the model created a number of commercials that may run all through the NFL playoffs.
The spots had been directed by Kenny Herzog of O Positive Films, whose earlier work has included appearances by Joel Embiid, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Julie and Zach Ertz and different skilled athletes. Subway and company associate Dentsu Artistic culled sandwich evaluation from broadcasters Charles Barkley and Tony Romo, retired NFL star Rob Gronkowski, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and four-time NBA champion Steph Curry.
Oh, and since his ESPN documentary sequence “The Captain” simply wrapped up in August, baseball Corridor of Famer Derek Jeter appeared like a pure match for the mission.
“With a purpose to keep, you may have to continually reinvent your self,” stated Carrie Walsh, Subway’s world CMO. “We’re taking a look at expertise that has proven push to at all times keep on the high of their sport.”
Amid the breakdowns of rookie sandwiches and piled-on meats, cheeses, veggies and seasonings is a steady of acquainted faces guiding Subway prospects by new and unfamiliar territory. Because the model enters much more uncharted waters in 2023, with a potential sale in the works, a marketing campaign full of recognizable names and merchandise turns into an much more important a part of Subway’s advertising and marketing menu.
“It does really feel just a little bit extra like a promise to shoppers that we’re regularly getting higher,” stated Jason Stefanik, government inventive director at Dentsu Artistic. “From an promoting standpoint, having the ability to discuss actual basic modifications which are constructing—versus a limited-time factor or like a brand new recipe that’s only a one off—is refreshing.”
A footlong story
Subway, as Walsh and Dentsu pitch it at this time, first started its transformation in 2019. Simply earlier than the pandemic, the sandwich chain acquired a new brand identity with up to date logos, typefaces, packaging and uniforms. It additionally took its first steps towards remodeling thousands of its stores by providing franchise house owners grants.
Lastly, it hired former Burger King leader John Chidsey as its CEO and commenced remodeling itself from low cost, ubiquitous pre-sliced customized sub store to a streamlined, tech-savvy pickup spot with its personal slicers, targeted on mounted menus of premium sandwiches. Inside a yr, Subway turned an official NFL sponsor.
By mid-2021, Subway had revamped its digital presence, its cell app and nearly all of its places. It launched an entire overhaul of its menu with an “Eat Fresh Refresh” campaign that introduced in Barkley because the official voice of the corporate and surrounded Curry with six-time Tremendous Bowl winner Tom Brady and 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion Serena Williams. Dentsu Artistic was behind that campaign as well, and famous that it helped Subway beat gross sales projections by $1.4 billion after a decade’s value of decline.
“Subway, in its DNA, has at all times been related to sports activities and athletes,” Walsh stated. “And that’s pushed from the model positioning, which is ‘We’re this better option that folks actually do use to gas higher efficiency.’”
When Subway introduced its Subway Collection sandwich menu roughly six months in the past, the model saved its athlete-centric technique. It used Barkley, Romo, former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch and others for spots during which they drafted new sandwiches into the chain’s lineup.
“To us, the sandwiches are our superstars,” Stefanik stated. “So we wish to then associate these with individuals that may, for lack of higher time period, stay as much as the sandwiches.”
Biting into 2023
Subway nonetheless has the most locations of any U.S. restaurant chain, although that quantity’s fallen since 2015, and nonetheless ranks among the Top 10 in total sales.
Nevertheless, according to the Wall Street Journal, Subway is contemplating a sale and consulting with advisors a couple of deal. The estimated worth of the chain is $10 billion, which is barely lower than the $11.3 billion Encourage Manufacturers paid for Dunkin’ in 2020 or the $11 billion Burger King paid for Tim Horton’s in 2014. With founders Fred DeLuca and Peter Buck dying in 2015 and 2021, respectively, the chain’s been privately held by their households since.
“As a privately held firm, we don’t touch upon possession construction and enterprise plans,” a Subway spokesperson stated in a press release to Adweek. “We proceed to be targeted on shifting the model ahead with our transformational journey to assist our franchisees achieve success and worthwhile.”
Subway’s newest push for its latest sandwich menu goals to proceed that transformation, however has confronted headwinds past the unsure way forward for its possession. The pandemic delayed the introduction of Subway’s new model and merchandise. This yr, it continues boosting a premium sandwich menu amid continued inflation and menace of a recession.
Nevertheless, whereas privately held Subway sometimes doesn’t launch monetary outcomes, it famous in an October news release that the Subway Collection menu drove a 7.4% improve in same-store gross sales throughout its eight-week launch in comparison with the identical interval a yr earlier. In the course of the third quarter, Subway stated same-store gross sales elevated 8.4%, together with an 11% enhance through the begin of the NFL season in September.
Whereas Subway’s whole model refresh has been marked by durations of uncertainty, Walsh stated she noticed these obstacles as alternatives for her advertising and marketing crew and its company collaborators to be higher companions within the course of.
“That is greater than a advertising and marketing marketing campaign. It’s rooted in actions we’re taking to deal with the alternatives we see with our friends and our shoppers,” Walsh stated. “We’re going to take a look at what’s taking place in 2023, and say ‘how will we convey options ahead as a part of that subsequent section of our refreshed journey that basically assist tackle client issues?’”
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