At the same time Carl's Jr. launched its YouTube partnership in early June to promote its newest premium burger, Subway debuted its own partnered online campaign, Fit to Boom.
Both brands wanted to reach consumers online in a fresh way, but the similarities end there.
Carl's Jr. paid a relatively small cost to have nine YouTube stars create their own content for subscribers while Subway worked with MSN.com and production company Reveille to create a professional, feel-good original entertainment feature aimed at, of all audiences, baby boomers.
Tony Pace, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Subway's consumer marketing arm, said the company "made a substantial investment" in the project. He is happy not only with the brand's first online feature but with the entire process.
"Early indications are it's resonating," he said. "I don't want to declare victory just yet, but there are real indications it's pretty good."
Pace said online viewers are spending a lot of time on the site, watching multiple stories and clicking on the Subway promotional clips. The site also included a consumer contest awarding $20,000 for the winner to make a real life change. The contest, designed as a traffic driver, resulted in nearly 1,900 submissions in its first three weeks.
Fit to Boom features a number of vignettes about older adults who have experienced a dramatic, positive, health-based life change. Each one ends with the opportunity for viewers to click on a short clip of that person describing the building of their favorite Subway menu item.
For example, one video tells the story of how a 51-year-old former insurance broker started formal dance training at age 35. She then left her first career in her late 40s and now owns the country's largest adult dance studio. Her Subway clip demonstrates the making of her own personalized salad.
Developing the message
The message of life changes seemed interesting enough when initial discussions began last year, he said. But as the economic situation worsened, the topic seemed to fit the times.
"I would like to say we were really, really smart and figure all that out from a timing standpoint," Pace said. "But I think if there's a silver lining from the economic turmoil, we benefited from that because more people are kind of reprioritizing what they want to do."
Pace said the intent is not to show viewers how to open their own dance studio but to show that "people can make interesting and positive changes even at a point in time that most people think you should be winding things down.
"We think that's a positive message for people in general, and that's a natural fit with Subway," he said. "We're a brand that really believes that you can change anything and certainly eat a little bit better at any point in your life."
Being able to share that messaging was an appealing part of the project, Pace said. Subway first began discussing the project last year with Microsoft and Reveille, both of whom the chain had worked with on previous campaigns - Microsoft with online gaming and Reveille with branded integration in its television productions.
The chain had to be convinced that the blend of entertainment and information could "get a substantial online audience," he said. "I think we're learning that we can."
Targeting baby boomers also appealed to Subway because it is a segment rarely specifically targeted by quick-service brands.
"We think there's a real opportunity there," Pace said, "not just because of the size of the baby boomer population but also because they're making lots of choices about food. And we think we're particularly well-suited for those decisions."
Active involvement
For Subway, the project was an opportunity to be more involved in the production process, including providing input on the site name and shaping of the content. While that experience was more in-depth than for most of its campaigns, the company does expect to have involvement beyond just approving their logo placement.
The company's involvement prompted the choice of the words "powered by Subway" rather than using the traditional term "sponsored."
"Sponsoring is a passive phenomenon," Pace said. "We like to think powering is a more active phenomenon. You can debate the semantics of that, but it's the attitude that we try to bring to things.
"We could have said just go do your stuff, and then show it to us, or just go do your stuff and put us (the brand logo) there, but we didn't. We participated in that whole process."
