When he was just 17 years old, founder of international sandwich chain Subway® Fred DeLuca started his business with a meagre $1,000 loan. Today, Subway is the largest restaurant chain in the world with over 38,000 stores in more than 100 countries. As a franchise-based business, Subway is dependent on new franchisees to drive growth. The chain wanted to create an online contest to increase awareness of franchise opportunities as well as to increase brand awareness among young people.

Subway engaged MyCom and YSN’s influencer network to provide consulting, content development, and promotion for a global “Build Your Own Virtual Subway® Store” game. Players from around the world would build their own virtual Subway stores, choose their locations, and drive traffic (sales) to their restaurant via social media. Participants would gain points as customers visited their virtual restaurants as well as through a series of challenges, which included creating a promotional video to pitch themselves and their restaurant. Global and country-specific leader boards would track the highest scoring contestants throughout the six-week challenge and, along with a review by a panel of judges, select the top five winners.

The contest was marketed using a mix of paid and organic strategies. MyCom provided strategic consulting, application development, creative content, and ad management services. We produced and promoted a “Call for Entrants” video, featuring both animation and interviews with Subway’s leadership. We then promoted the video and contest across multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. YSN’s international network of young influencers were leveraged to amplify the messaging to attract contestants around the world. These influencers promoted the Subway contest by reaching out to their personal networks as well as creating and posting videos about their store concepts to score points that determined the allocation of prizes.

The campaign was a huge success for Subway, reaching over 19 million people internationally. Using paid ads in combination with influencer-based messaging boosted this reach significantly. The campaign generated over 1,029 articles and mentions in the press. The media’s interest and articles, in turn, drove the public’s interest in the campaign, which resulted in an increase of 11,200 Facebook page “Likes” for Subway during the contest.

• Developed and deployed a world-wide ad campaign, The Subway Global Challenge, for the largest restaurant chain in the world
• Used a mix of paid and organic strategies to drive awareness of franchise opportunities
• Inspired 1,029 media articles
• Generated 11,200 Facebook page likes