Here’s how Subway leveraged its #GetDesified campaign for massive reach on OTT

Restaurant franchise brand Subway – known internationally for its submarine sandwiches and salads – currently operates over 660 restaurants in over 70 cities in India*. The brand made fresh additions to its menu, aiming to cater to millennials’ increasing demands for ‘desi’ flavours in late 2019.

Soon after, Subway also introduced the ‘Chhota ‘Sub’, a smaller version of its submarine sandwiches with an enticing price point.

*Source – https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/subway-adds-four-new-flavours-to-loaded-signature-wraps-as-seasonal-offer-119101100582_1.html#:~:text=Subway%C2%AE%20India%20has%20added,millennials%20all%20over%20the%20world

For starters

Subway launched the #GetDesified campaign to promote its four new flavours, with a separate integrated campaign for the Chhota Sub. Both campaigns were entertaining and humorous, and the brand wanted to create buzz and brand conversations through them. It was crucial for Subway to create a big splash with their campaigns. They were looking for a high-reach platform that could help them connect with their audience at scale, and Disney+ Hotstar proved to be the perfect match.

Placing the order

Subway adopted a two-pronged approach as a part of its strategy: They chose the festive season coupled with language feed targeting to strike a chord with the audience for the #GetDesified campaign.

On the other hand, for the ‘Chota Sub’ campaign, they chose a high-reach solution: cricket. They ran their campaign on the India Vs New Zealand bilateral series for an exponential reach.

Number crunching

Not only did Subway achieve a significant increase in online ad awareness, but the campaigns also drove an increase in purchase intent. The brand saw a 5% and 3% increase for each, respectively. Additionally, it achieved a unique reach of 15 million for the #GetDesified and Chhota Sub campaigns.

The online streaming platform’s high-reach solutions, combined with Subway’s witty ads with a hint of ‘desi-ness’, helped the brand taste massive success on OTT.