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Subway completes eight years in India; gets a creative partner
Subway hires a creative agency for a market only after its store count touches the 100 mark
Subway, the sandwich restaurant also operating in the quick service restaurant (QSR) space, has decided upon Arms Communications and Alliance Advertising as its creative and media partners, respectively.
Confirming this to afaqs!, Sandeep Shah, member, national advertising board for Subway India, reveals that the brief to agencies was to increase brand sales by 20 per cent.
“The projected ad spend for the year is Rs 3-4 crore, which will take into account national and regional marketing activation,” confirms Shah.
Madison Creative and Arms made it to the last round on the creative front; Madison Media and Alliance Advertising were pitching for the last round of the media business.
Though a creative agency is new in the roster, Alliance Advertising has been Subway's media partner for almost five years. Though the brand has not been very active on the advertising front as compared to other quick service restaurant (QSR) players, it has been active in print advertising through flyers and other print vehicles.
Subway flagged off its operations in the country beginning with Delhi. Today, it has approximately 145 stores across India, with the largest markets being Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
In the eight years of its existence in the country, this is the first time that a creative agency has been brought on board for the brand.
In the aggressive marketing scenario of the Indian QSR segment, why did Subway not take to advertising earlier? “It is a criterion at Subway – a creative agency is not appointed for the brand until and unless the store count touches 100 in a country,” explains Shah.
Evidently, with the number of stores across the country defining the spread of the brand, Subway did not find it essential to take up advertising with a nominal presence, especially when, as a QSR, it makes sense to adopt the mass communication route.
As per the latest Ernst & Young report, the contribution of the organised market in the QSR space is less than 3 per cent of the entire Indian eating out (IEO) market.
Though there is no competition for the brand in the sandwich space, in the QSR space, the brand contends against fast food services such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Domino's.
Globally, Subway's campaigns are woven around eating fresh and healthy. It is to be seen whether the brand bets on the same proposition in its advertising in India. And if it does, whether it succeeds would be something to watch out for. Considering the advertising for the other QSRs in the Indian market, betting on health would definitely see a new opening in the category.