2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Inches to Togetherness - a Ramadan campaign - was Subway's first real foray into social media. Instead of engaging in conventional PR, Subway decided to focus on its brand values + the core of its product (inches) + Ramadan values + Social experiences to create a campaign that got people talking about it, generating a lot of WOM and buzz on social media, and effectively, using the channel to sell Subways. A first foray, as we said, into social media that resulted in a growth in brand love and relationships, through facilitating people's relationships with the ones who were close to them - with every inch.

The Brief

Through social media listening, we identified their main anxiety in Ramadan was being away from their family and their loved ones (even though they felt at home away from home). They wanted the comfort of familiarity during Ramadan. So, we focused on targeting expats. During Ramadan, a sizeable segment of the expat population in the UAE often spend Ramadan – a month of togetherness - away from their families. And our goal was to bring them closer to each other through Subway's Ramadan campaign. PR wasn't a goal. PR became the result.

Results

+ Facebook fans doubled during the first half of Ramadan growing from 70,000 to over 140,000, eventually settling near 150,000, crossing the target of 100,000 – an acquisition rate 7 times more than the regional average – a fantastic benchmark. Over 200,000 people were reached and engaged through this campaign. + Subway sales in UAE increased by 9 index points during the campaign period, doubling up with a 100% growth over Ramadan last year, surpassing the objectives by 200%, proving social commerce can be effective in the region, when based on a culturally relevant human insight.

Execution

The idea and the executions were embedded in the brand values of Subway (goodness, generosity, togetherness), of Ramadan (togetherness, unity, sharing) and the product (Inches!). The WORLD’S FIRST EVER Virtual Ramadan Tables by a brand, activated with a code for every purchase, brought families and friends closer together literally with every inch. The World’s Longest Virtual Subway sandwich where every purchase was accompanied with a 6” inch sandwich donation to a UAE charity – grew with every inch translating into real life sandwiches for the less fortunate at every Iftar (the evening meal when people break their fast).

The Situation

With Ramadan around the corner, Subway needed to increase its sales and volumes. But, a run-of-the-mill sales promotion would just get lost in the clutter of the other pre-Ramadan and Ramadan sales promotions that most fast food brands do. Subway needed to cut-through by increasing its emotional and functional relevance to the month and thereby,increase its sales.

The Strategy

Our idea: TOGETHERNESS IS ONLY INCHES AWAY. Given the social potential of Facebook in the UAE, we selected it as the platform to bring the social experience of ‘getting people together with those who are far away’ to life. We set out to create a unique social experience on Facebook through 2 very unique and relevant applications, founded on real human insights (avoiding the temptation to get swayed by cool technology most brands tend to deploy).