The Challenge
In the competitive quick service restaurant (QSR) industry, Subway sought to capture the lunchtime rush and build long-term brand loyalty. With the goal of owning lunchtime, Subway needed to stand out during the most crave-worthy hours of the day and turn meaningful engagement into outcomes.
The Method
Subway partnered with News Australia to launch ‘SUBHOURS’, a campaign built around audience intelligence, data-driven targeting, and bespoke creative.
News Australia’s deep understanding of its audience enabled Subway to engage consumers with relevant, personalised and timely messages at moments of high receptivity. Using Intent Connect’s Content Connect, Subway gathered insights into consumer behaviour during the hunger-trigger window, leveraged self-optimising segments and developed bespoke audience segments from Mastercard and Azira for precise and effective targeting.
Dynamic creative and high-impact formats like the bespoke Subscroller and the Portal Truskins embodied Subway’s focus on size and value in immersive, unmissable ways. Additionally, a 4-part editorial series on news.com.au further elevated the campaign’s contextual alignment, connecting Subway with cultural moments like World Sandwich Day and embedding the brand in trusted, relatable content. Delivered in premium news environments enabled longer dwell times and allowed Subway to fully maximise creative impact, reinforcing quality and value to engaged audiences.
The Results
In just three months, the ‘SUBHOURS’ campaign delivered impressive performance across brand, action, and transaction metrics, surpassing benchmarks and proving its effectiveness in turning real engagement into real outcomes.
Editorial articles, for instance, achieved an impressive average page duration of 5 minutes and 22 seconds, which is more than double the typical benchmark for such content. Furthermore, the campaign’s ad formats consistently outperformed benchmarks. The Portal, Subscroller, and Truskin ad formats for Subway saw click-through rates (CTRs) of 0.37%, 0.58%, and 0.38% respectively, all significantly exceeding the 0.17% benchmark. The ScrollX format also performed well, with a 0.29% CTR against a 0.28% benchmark.
Beyond engagement, the campaign profoundly influenced customer action and foot traffic. It resulted in a remarkable 50% uplift in in-store visits, substantially surpassing the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) benchmark of 27-32%. This translated to 138,562 total exposed visits compared to 68,480 total control visits, yielding 13,628 total incremental visits and an average exposed visitor rate of 6.65%.
The campaign’s success also extended to driving transactions and sales. Since its launch, Subway experienced a 3% sales uplift directly correlated with the campaign. Moreover, the initiative generated over 150,000 returning customers, highlighting its strong retention capabilities and long-term positive impact.
*Subway Internal Sales Data, Sep – Jan 2024; Azira footfall measurement Sep – Oct ‘24