Subway: SUBWAY COMMIT TO FIT

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Integrated Campaign Led by PR

Advertiser: SUBWAY FRANCHISEE ADVERTISING FUND OF CANADA INC

Product/Service: QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANT

Agency: VERITAS COMMUNICATIONS

Vice President/Director of Planning: Moira Gilderson (Carat Canada)

Media placement: Media Relations - every major Canadian outlet - June 13 - Nov 11 2011

Media placement: Consumer Events - six major outdoor city centres - June 13- July 01 2011

Media placement: Digital PR - Online Media buys on major Canadian Health lifestyle and news portals - June 12- Oct 25 2011

Media placement: Influencer Outreach - Direct mail outreach and physical presence at Dietitians of Canada Annual Conference - April 01 - June 30 2011

Media placement: Social Media - Subway Canada Facebook Page - June 13-October 31 2011



Summary of the Campaign

Challenge:

The quick service restaurant category in Canada is unique. 1 major competitor – Tim Hortons – owns the vast majority of market share. And in recent years, their positioning has increasingly infringed on the Subway message – fresh, health-conscious, and smart meal-solutions.



Objectives:

Reinforce Subway’s health positioning to build awareness and drive sales among health-conscious consumers. In research (Ipsos-ASI), 74% of Canadians identified Subway as having the healthiest menu options among QSR competitors.

Credit for this positioning, in part, was due to the brand’s relationship with our most famous face, Jared Fogle - a one-man encapsulation of the Subway health advantage.



Strategy:

Subway launched a new brand pillar: 'Commit to Fit'.



Execution:

The Subway Commit to Fit Ambassador Search was a cross-country search for 'the Canadian Jared'. A national 6-city tour with Jared drove submissions and consumer engagement. Social media supported the program with videos, live updates, finalist voting and winner announcements.



Outcome:

• Record-breaking sales from campaign launch to year-end;

• 32m media impressions;

• 1,161 submissions;

• Over 30,000 votes;

• Consumer likelihood to choose Subway for a healthy meal grew +3;

• Gain in healthy meal traffic amounted to over 4m incremental occasions in 2011, or a 2% lift in traffic.



The Situation

The Subway chain is the number 1 QSR for people looking to make a healthy meal choice, with 15% of Subway customers stating that the availability of healthy meal options was their primary reason for visiting Subway (NDP Group 2011).



The Commit to Fit program was created to maintain and grow Subway Restaurants health leadership position. Subway Restaurants of Canada was seeking to differentiate from its single biggest competitor in the Canadian marketplace – Tim Hortons – who was amplifying its healthy offerings and positioning.



The Goal

The goal of this program was to reinforce Subway’s health positioning to build awareness and drive sales among health conscious consumers. Secondarily, we were seeking to activate these consumers to become brand ambassadors. The campaign was designed specifically to target health conscious consumers. According to research, 15% of Subway customers stated that the availability of healthy meal options was their primary reason for visiting. Subway restaurants commissioned Ipsos-ASI to conduct pre and post-wave consumer research to measure changes in attitude or behaviour with the launch of Commit to Fit, and NDP Group measured increases in traffic and sales since the campaign launch.



The Strategy

To achieve the stated objectives, Subway created Commit to Fit, a national, fully-integrated, bilingual campaign.

At the core of this campaign was the Subway Commit to Fit Ambassador Search, a cross-country search for 'the Canadian Jared' – 1 English-Canadian and one French-Canadian Ambassador who had inspiring stories about how they have made the commitment to change their life and get healthy. The Ambassadors would work alongside Subway to inspire and motivate Canadians to lead active, healthy lifestyles.

Through Commit to Fit, Subway restaurants also fostered strategic relationships with key influencers including registered dietitians and nutritionists – a brand new channel for the brand to reach its target.



Through targeted pre-launch communications, Subway generated awareness among this group for the Commit to Fit campaign, its healthy menu offerings, sodium reduction and the Nutrimeter tool to positively influence the healthy eating recommendations these influencers give to their clients every day.



Execution

The 19-week Commit to Fit Ambassador Search kicked off June 13, 2011, with a 6-city Canadian media tour with Jared Fogle. Visiting Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, Jared conducted media interviews to solicit entries.



To meet the unique needs of the French-speaking market within Canada, Jared was paired with a French-speaking spokesperson, Jimmy Sevigny, who had lost over 250lbs himself, in part by eating Subway sandwiches.



Jared also hosted consumer events in public spaces at which he incentivised passers-by to perform a 'Random Acts of Fitness' and encouraged them to submit to the Ambassador Search.



Following the call for submissions, 6 finalists were selected by Subway and profiled on freshenergy.com, and Facebook. Consumers were invited to vote for the French and English finalist of their choosing.



During the 4-week voting period and once the winners were selected, local media relations helped drive further awareness.



Documented Results

Objective:

Build Awareness



Results:

• Facebook 'Likes' increased 1,500%;

• Website traffic increased 9,300% in the first week;

• 32m media impressions.



Objective:

Drive Sales



Results:

• The 3 weeks following the launch of Commit to Fit achieved the highest sales on record for Subway Restaurants of Canada, and the brand maintained record-breaking average sales to the end of 2011.

• Subway’s share of QSR traffic peaked in the June/July/August quarter at 5.4%;

• The Commit to Fit campaign helped generate 4m incremental occasions on the year, or a 2% lift in traffic;

• Consumer likelihood to choose Subway for a healthy meal grew +3.



(Note: As a privately owned company, Subway does not disclose more detailed sales information).