Subway is set to launch a new range of HotSellers that eliminate the need for customizations. With a focus on accessibility and expansion beyond metros, Subway’s latest campaign featuring Viswanathan Anand is touted as their biggest in two decades. The goal is to appeal to a broader customer base and solidify Subway’s position as a convenient and popular food destination.
In a conversation with Storyboard18, Mayur Hola, chief marketing officer, Culinary Brands talks about Subway’s new experiment, the reason behind choosing Viswanathan Anand as the face of their campaigns, new markets and more.
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A 360-degree campaign after being present in the Indian market for close to two decades. Why now?
Subway has been in India for 20 years. It started with a bang, but to be honest there hasn’t been much innovation since then. The brand grew largely in big cities and a large part of our business resides like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and other Tier 1 cities. But now it’s time to expand outside of the metros.
There are a lot of QSR restaurants out there, so Subway needs to make itself stand out. One way to do this is to make the brand and the product more accessible. For example, Subway could offer set menu sandwiches or create a simpler ordering process.
Subway also needs to appeal to a wider audience. Right now, the brand appeals to a certain group of people who are familiar with the ordering process. But there are many people who have never been to Subway before, and they may not know how to order a sandwich. Subway needs to make it easy for these people to get started.
Making the brand and the product more accessible is the first step in Subway’s growth journey. This is a necessary step, and it’s something that needs to be done now.
Tell us a little about the new markets you are exploring and expanding into.
We’ve added a whole bunch of stores in markets like Lucknow, Yamuna Nagar, and Katra. We’re also expanding to Jaipur and Kota. Many of these locations like Jaipur aren’t small markets but we weren’t present there and now we are. This is however just the beginning, and we’re excited to continue growing in the coming months and years.
Coming back to the campaign- Vishwanathan Anand, doesn’t seem to be a conventional choice for a food brand. Why him?
It would be too simplistic to say we wanted to go to new and smaller cities and start serving there and hence we needed a campaign to announce that. So let me start by saying that the challenge of people preferring someone qualified to make their food exists even in big cities. I myself might have a vague idea of what I want. I prefer to read a menu, see if it sounds good, and then have a chef make it for me. I think this is true for many people.
This means that there is a lot of scope for growth for Subway, even among its current audience.
The current audience is aware of what they want to eat or make, and they are also capable of answering the questions that are asked at the store. However, even people who are similar to the current audience may not be considering Subway because of various factors, such as the ordering process, the perception of Subway as a cold salad brand, and the fact that people in India generally prefer warm food.
The hot sellers address all of these concerns. They are warm, indulgent subs that are made by our chefs.
Of course, people who prefer to make their own sandwiches can still do so. This is Subway’s unique differentiator, and it will never go away.
But we needed to let our people know about our new offering and I think it was pretty obvious that the best way to convey this message was to feature someone who is perhaps the smartest among us. This is because the challenge of not knowing what to order at Subway could happen to any one of us. We wanted to find someone who would be relatable and not condescending. Vishwanathan Anand was just the right face for this.
Who is the agency you worked with and what are the media channels that you are opting for to promote the campaign?
We worked with Tanmay Bhatt and Devaiah Bopanna’s content studio Moonshot for the campaign. As for channels we are going all out on TV, digital, social media, cinemas and of course influencers too.
Is India the only market where Subway wasn’t doing much of campaigns? And is this an isolated campaign or you’d continue with more marketing initiatives?
I believe that all markets have had TV commercials, including India. However, India has not invested as much in this area and has been relatively quiet for a while. Subway is a major brand in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Middle East. I believe that most of these markets are active in terms of media.
We are just starting to ramp up our marketing efforts in India. We were present during the FIFA World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, that campaign was not as big as this one, nor was it as differentiated in terms of product or service changes. II think you’ll see even more marketing initiatives from Subway in India going forward. We’re committed to growing our business here, and we believe that TV advertising is a key part of that strategy.
Right now our focus is to make Subway more accessible to people and give them more reasons to come to us. We’re doing this by introducing an easy ordering model for those who prefer it, so they can either make their own sub or order one of our warm indulgence subs.
This is just the first step in our journey of developing our own proprietary recipes. As a food brand, we need our own signature products, and this is our first step towards that. We’ll continue to develop more offerings so that people can just point and get a great sub.
We’re also working on improving our beverage and dessert offerings. We have cookies that people love, but we need to fill out the rest of the menu. We’ll be doing that soon.
Lastly, do you feel that adding a new line of products that is in absolute contrast to your existing offerings is a risk that you are taking? How do you balance the potential risks and rewards of this decision?
The best thing about our new model is that we’re not abandoning our existing customers. We’re simply giving them more options. If you want to make your own sub, you can still do that. But if you want to try one of our new warm indulgence subs, you can do that too.
We’re also not abandoning our legacy brand. We’re simply updating it. We want to remain contemporary and exciting, and we think this new model will help us do that.
We’re confident that our loyal customers will continue to come to us, and we’re excited to introduce our new products to a new audience.