ubwayCampaign

Presented by Magic Creative

Introduction

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The very first Subway got its start from humble beginnings when medical student Fred DeLuca needed a way to pay his college tuition. From a humble start to a brand known across the globe, Subway has grown tremendously since its conception. The concept of a make your own sub sandwich was the first of its kind and was a great addition to the fast food market. Offering healthier, more fresh items gave Subway a leg up on the other fast food restaurant competition. The ability to franchise the restaurants allowed the chain to grow larger than hamburger giant McDonalds.

With fresh baked bread, mouth watering veggies, and decadent combinations, Subway continues to prosper in the fast food market. Each Subway location strives for quality food, service, and overall experience. Fred DeLuca’s small sandwich joint has grown into a household name--one that values healthy choices and convenience.

Kelly O’Connor, Presentation

Director JOUR 640 Strategic CampaignsProfessor Tien-Tsung Lee

University of Kansas William Allen White School

of Journalism and Mass Communications

Fall 2017

Elizabeth Boeder Account Executive

Morgan MitchellPublic Relations

Director

John WilsonResearch Director

Abby BamburgMedia & Social Media Director

Gabrielle MarmonCreative Director

Changyu ZhouCreative Director

Table of ContentsExecutive Summary 3Introduction 5Situation Analysis 6

The Client 7

Industry Review 9

Trends 10

Competition - Direct and Indirect 11

Past and Current Campaigns 14

Primary Research 15SWOT 19

Target Audiences 20Goals & Objectives 24Strategy 25Tactics 26Conclusion 36Appendices 37References 38

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Situation Analysis

Founded in 1965 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Subway opened under the name “Pete’s Subway.” With a $1,000 loan and not knowing how big the restaurant would grow, DeLuca and his family friend Dr. Peter Buck set their sights on 32 stores in 10 years. After 10 years, DeLuca and Buck started to franchise the restaurant and changed the name to Subway. Today, Subway has more than 44,000 locations around the world (Subway, 2017).

While the company has grown tremendously, DeLuca always maintained his vision for Subway. To maintain complete control over the company while still allowing expansion, DeLuca wanted Subway to remain privately held since its inception. With his passing in 2015, DeLuca handed over the title of CEO to his sister, Suzanne Greco, who has spearheaded many of the initiatives designed to improve the quality of the product as well as the general customer experience at Subway (Geier, 2015).

Subway is known for serving fresh and nutritious made-to-order sandwiches. With more than 37 million Subway sandwich combinations and more locations than McDonald’s worldwide, the core benefit of Subway to its average consumer is convenience (Tepper, 2012). This includes the quick service aspect of the restaurant as well as the made-to-order setup of the ordering process.

The Client

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Indirect CompetitionSome of Subway’s indirect competitors would be QSR restaurant chains that offer the fast-casual type of environment and healthy food. Subway also competes with fast-food restaurants that have begun offering healthy options on their menus, for instance, even McDonald’s and Wendy’s offer healthier alternatives such as “organic drinks, black-bean burgers, and kale,” (Washington Post, 2015).

Panera: Panera is a bakery-cafe that was started in Kirkwood, MO in 1987. Today, it has over 2,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Panera prides itself on serving healthy food, such as sandwiches, soups and salads. Panera is the second largest sandwich chain in terms of sales. In 2017, Panera announced “that its entire food menu is now 100% free from flavors, preservatives, sweeteners and colors from artificial sources” (Mintel, 2016).

Chipotle: Chipotle was started in 1993 with the idea that “food served fast didn’t have to be a ‘fast food’ experience.” With 2,250 locations, Chipotle is committed to selling “food with integrity.” Normally a leader in the market, Chipotle has struggled since November of 2015 when there was an E. Coli breakout at various locations. (Mintel, 2017).

McDonald’s: McDonald’s has long been recognized as the leader of the fast food market. With over 36,899 restaurants worldwide, it has a revenue of $32 billion (Lubin, 2011). McDonald’s has recently been attempting to add healthier options on their menu in order to keep up with the health food trend, such as salads and wraps.

Wendy’s: Wendy’s opened in 1969 and now has 6,500 locations worldwide. Wendy’s has been leading the industry when it comes to social media with it’s “off the cuff twitter responses” to its consumers (Mintel, 2017). Along with McDonald’s, Wendy’s has been attempting to add healthier options to their menu and reiterated that their food is always “‘fresh never frozen’ for their burger meat, and in April 2017 the chain translated that message to a chicken sandwich and salad that highlights fresh mozzarella cheese,” (Mintel, 2017).

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Primary Research

Interview with Millennial Mother

• How often do you visit Subway?• How do you feel about Subway?• How do your children feel about Subway?• Would you feed Subway to your children?• Do you feel Subway has good choices for children?• How does Subway compare to other fast food options?

Qutoes:

Millennial mothers believe Subway has healthy choices for their children.“Yes, I would buy food for my children at Subway.”“Yeah, I guess they have apple slices now. So that’s good.”

Millennial mothers don’t feel guilty about giving their children Subway.“…and I don’t feel as guilty as, like, fast food.”“Anything you can do to make moms feel less guilty. Being a mom is like feeling guilty all the time.”

Even though Subway is perceived to be a healthy fast food option, there are other factors that cause millennial mothers to turn to competitor chains like Jimmy Johns.“In all honesty, I don’t like Subway. I had a bad experience once, so now I go to Jimmy Johns instead.”

Millennial mothers prefer to give their children Subway over McDonalds or other fast food restaurants.“Yes [I would prefer to give my children Subway over a fast food restaurant like McDonald’s.]”

Millennial mothers perceive Subway as a convenient, yet healthy, option. Subway locations inside business like Walmart are attractive to millennial mothers.“…we would take them to the [Subway] in the Walmart where we live. It was convenient because we could eat and shop at the same time. It was convenient, and I don’t feel as guilty as, like, fast food.”

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SWOT Analysis

Strengths

1. Has the most locations among competitors2. Has one of the highest revenues in the industry3. Beats the competition in social media followers

Weaknesses

1. The food does not look like how it appears in ads and does not look fresh like it claims to be; “Subway, Eat Fresh”

2. The nutritional value contradicts claims that Subway is the healthier option

3. Doesn’t have a delivery service, unlike most of their competitors4. Doesn’t offer gluten free options and the vegetarian options are

limited

Opportunities1. Everyone seems to be targeting millennials right

now; what if we target families with kids. If these kids grow up eating Subway, they will adopt a sense of brand loyalty

Threats

1. Subway was the first of its kind in regards to make the food in front of the customer; however this concept is heavily associated with Chipotle

2. Highly associated with Wal-Mart and gas stations; the last resort before eating gas station food

3. Spokesperson Jared getting arrested and charged with child molestation and pornography

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Goals：The goal of this campaign is to reposition Subway as a healthy and convenient option in the minds of our target audience.

Objectives :• By December 2018, generate brand awareness

among millennial mothers and their children.• Engage audience on social media by earning

200,000 impressions on selected social media platforms.

• Earn at least a 50 percent redemption rate on free coupons by December 2018.

Strategy&

Tactics

Televison Advertising

What you see

Open on a 10-year-old scraping his knee on the playground.His mom hugs him and we see a close up of her face.

Mom is at work. She’s looks at a photo of her kid on the desk. She smiles. You can’t always spend as much time with them as you want.Mom is stressed out.

She picks up her son from soccer practice. They drive past a burger restaurant and towards Subway.

Subway logo.

What you hear

Parenting isn’t always easy.

Sometimes, you’ll doubt yourself.

But you don’t have to have doubts about the food you give your kids.

Subway: The Guilt-Free Fast Food Restaurant

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We plan to run a television ad that shows the stress of parenting. We want to show how there are many hard decisions a parent needs to make, but going to Subway doesn’t need to be one of them.

Community Involvement

In order to achieve the strategy of increasing involvement within the community, Subway franchise owners and employees will pass out coupons at soccer tournaments, volleyball tournaments and football games in Kansas City and surrounding areas. Interactions between the community and the franchise locations will foster a stronger connection to Subway. The coupons will offer free “Fresh Fit for Kids” meal with the purchase of any 6-inch or 12-inch sub. Subway’s involvement in the community will encourage a positive association between Subway and healthy children’s activities, such as community sports; therefore, increasing the number of mothers taking their families to Subway. In order to get the word out, we will send a news release to community organizations, such KC Fusion, Sunflower League, Blue Valley Recreation Center and local YMCA chapters in hopes they will share it with community participants. Examples of news release and coupons below.

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News Release

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A problem we noticed while conducting research was the lack of design and polish on the website. In order to increase brand awareness, we will be redesigning Subway’s website to give it a modern, clean appearance. Our Subway website redesign will hold the attention of users brought there by social media platforms and influencers. It will display Subway sandwich, promotions, locations, partnerships, etc. A beta version of the website redesign is featured below.

Website Redesign

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Print Advertising

Chosse a "Healthy way"

Healthyway

Choose "Subway"

TomatoesPeppers

Black Olives Cucumbers

Carrots

Avocados

Jalapenos

Onions

Enjoy your sandwich made just the way you like it. Variety of Vegetables!

© Subway. All Rights Reserved.

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