Latest Subway ad campaign highlights vegetables

Subway, seeking to amplify its long-successful message of offering food that’s more healthful than that of other quick service restaurants, has launched a new ad campaign highlighting the wide variety of vegetables guests can put in their sandwiches.

Premiering during prime time on August 3, the “Veggie Freshness” spot starts with a Subway worker turning on the lights of a darkened restaurant and then shows shots of vegetable preparation, customers trying vegetables, and what looks like a subway chef and nutritionist sampling and discussing vegetables.

In addition to highlighting vegetables, the commercial also underscores the customizability of the chain’s offerings and in-store preparation — two factors that resonate well with many consumers.

“At Subway, we are seriously into veggies,” a narrator says in the commercial. “That’s why we get right to work every morning, preparing ’em fresh, right in-store. Only thing better than creating this cool, crisp colorful rainbow, is watching you work your sandwich magic, making a one-of-a-kind creation bursting with flavor.

“We’re all about finding unique veggies that give your sandwich even more life, like avocado, spinach, red onion. So come on in and get your veggie on.
“Subway. Eat fresh.”

The campaign will appear on national and cable television “for the foreseeable future” a company spokeswoman said, in rotation with other ads, including the “Bread is on the Rise” campaign introduced in May, and “August Values” and “Summer BBQ” spots that are currently also airinbg.

Vegetable-oriented ads are also running in the August 11 issue of People Magazine, the spokeswoman said. The campaign was produced by Boston-based creative agency MMB.

The campaign continues a strategy of marketing Subway’s distinguishing characteristics, which began with the Bread is on the Rise promotion that highlights the fact that the chain bakes its sandwich rolls in-house.

The chain, which has more than 42,000 locations in 106 countries, has also been promoting vegetable consumption overall in the United States with marketing efforts that include a three-year commitment to the Partnership for a Healthier America, announced in January, to promote healthier choices for kids. That commitment includes a promise to “deliver $41 million in media value” over three years to market healthier options to children and families, with a focus on encouraging kids to eat more fruit and vegetables, according to a PHA release.

Subway also targeted kids in March in a marketing collaboration with the film The Muppets Most Wanted.

Subway is no newcomer to marketing healthful items to young people. It introduced a “Fresh Fit” kids menu in 2007 that includes a mini-sub that fits national dietary guidelines along with apple slices and low-fat milk.

In 2012 Subway teamed up with the American Heart Association to put the AHA’s Heart-Check certification mark by menu items that met the association’s health requirements.

Contact Bret Thorn: [email protected]
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