THE CHALLENGE
When HMH started working with Subway, it wanted to capitalize on its Northwestern audience. The challenge was how to present an already large brand in a way that would resonate in this region, to localize the brand and increase traffic to area restaurants.
THE APPROACH
To begin with, we took another look at what we knew would appeal to Northwesterners. They love their independence, but they are fiercely proud of the region they live in and what makes it unique. When it comes to food, they care about what they eat. They love freshness and local flavors.
THE WORK
To involve the target audience interests, we created a contest inviting customers to submit their ideas for the perfect sub sandwich, using Northwest-inspired ingredients. The best entry would be sold at Subway for a limited time. The contest was announced with a flight of humorous radio spots and a complete point-of-sale merchandising package to generate interest and entries. The winning sandwich, The Smokehouse Salmon Select, was introduced later with new radio spots, in-store point-of-sale and television tags. Subway icon Jared Fogle visited Portland and announced the winning sandwich on local morning shows.
THE RESULTS
The contest received more than 600 Northwest Sandwich recipes. Equally impressive, sales were up 14.2%, customer counts were up 7.5% and ticket averages were up 6.1% in the five-week promotional window announcing the contest. The winning sandwich was a huge hit. In the six-week promotional window, Subway experienced its highest average ticket and highest average sales weeks of the year. More than 14 tons of smoked salmon were sold. The client loved the results and HMH has since added two more Oregon Subway markets to its client roster.
