4 P's of Subway Restaurants: Promotion

Subway’s Promotional Methods Subway, the largest franchise in the world, uses various promotion methods. Subway uses mass selling as their primary way of advertising. Since the target market is large and scattered over 98 countries, this is the easiest way for Subway to target their products. They announce their promotions using TV ads, radio ads, newspapers, and online ads. Subway also uses publicity as a form of advertising. Jared Fogle, Billy Blanks, and Michael Phelps are all great examples of this. We all know Jared as the overweight college graduate who lost 245 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches three times daily, Billy as the fitness guru known for the Tae Bo videos and Michael, superstar Olympian who loves the meatball and jalapeno sub (O’Leary, 2010). Publicity is a great way for Subway to promote products because by using celebrities who already love eating their sandwiches, they avoid paying for media services. Because they offer coupons, they also engage in sales promotion. These coupons can be found in coupon books such as, the Entertainment Book and the PayBack. Coupons are also published in the newspaper occasionally, most recently as February 14th, 2011. All Subway customers received a free cookie with any purchase ("Februany at subway," 2011).
Integrated Marketing Communications Subway’s promotional efforts produce integrated marketing communications well. The message that is always conveyed is that their food is fresh, healthy, not overly priced, and can lead to weight loss if done right. I think that all of their advertising gives the same message because if Jared Fogle lost 245 pounds, Billy Blanks stays fit, and Michael Phelps can win eight gold medals, their sandwiches must be healthy. Eating at Subway can also help maintain a full wallet. If someone wanted to, they could eat Subway for $15 a day and lose weight doing it (this is less than eating at other restaurant chains)! The TV ads, radio bits, publicity efforts, and

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