How Subway Utilised Macro, Micro, and Nano Influencers to Drive a Viral Challenge

The client

Subway is a known brand in the Singaporean market for its fresh and customisable sandwiches. Subway has successfully carved a niche by offering a healthier alternative to traditional fast-food options. With a wide range of fresh ingredients and bread choices, Subway caters to diverse dietary preferences and aims to provide customers with nutritious and flavourful meal options. Fancy a 6-in or a footlong sandwich?

The objective

The objectives of this campaign were to promote 

• The Breaded Chicken Cutlet Sub and Chocolate Orange Cookie as part of Subway's new launches.
• "The Big Bold Bites Challenge", a challenge to encourage customers and their peers to participate and showcase their eating abilities. Those that can finish the sub in the least amount of bites win!

The client wanted to generate excitement and curiosity among their target audience, enticing them to try these tantalising flavours to enhance brand engagement and increase customer loyalty.

The approach: Utilising macro, micro and nano influencers to drive the campaign

In this innovative campaign, Subway took a comprehensive approach to influencer marketing by leveraging the power of macro, micro, and nano influencers in Singapore. They recognised the impact and diverse reach of each tier of influencers and strategically utilised them to maximise their campaign's success.

• Macro-influencers (influencers with more than 30,000 followers) were employed to generate widespread hype and create a buzz around Subway's new launches, capturing the attention of a larger audience. 

• The macro-influencers are a crucial starting point for the campaign to get the word out, especially considering this is a challenge within a short period.

• Micro-influencers (influencers with 5,000 to 30,000 followers) are to foster deeper connections and generate authentic content, as their followers trust their opinions and recommendations, creating an amplification process. They are lifestyle or foodie influencers.

• We worked with both foodie and lifestyle influencers because some foodie influencers don't show their faces in their collaborations as their focus is to showcase the food, whereas lifestyle influencers create content that are more relatable–usually showcasing themselves doing it.

• Nano influencers (with 5,000 followers and below) were tapped into to activate people on a mass scale. Also known as everyday people, they can create a ripple effect of genuine content shared among friends and families.

• The ripple effect can spread like wildfire because people jump on the hype train when they see their peers doing something. They can also see how many posts are available with the relevant hashtags.

By harnessing the collective strength of these influencer tiers, Subway was able to create a multi-faceted and highly engaging campaign that resonated with a wide range of audiences, ultimately leading to increased brand visibility, participation in the Big Bold Bites Challenge, and driving sales for their new offerings.

What was the campaign brief?

We presented an exhilarating campaign brief to influencers of all tiers, ensuring an equal opportunity for everyone to participate. 

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Step 1:
Venture to any Subway outlet in Singapore and relish in the delectable Breaded Chicken Cutlet 6-inch sub meal, accompanied by the Chocolate Orange Cookie (with a minimum spend of $8.50). 

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Step 2:

But here's the twist that sparked intrigue and engagement–influencers were required to film themselves taking on this mouthwatering challenge. How many bites would it take to conquer this culinary delight?

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Step 3:
Each influencer had to create one captivating Instagram post that showcased their Big Bold Bites experience. The campaign brief included mandatory mentions of the #BigBoldBites Challenge, urging influencers to tag a friend and challenge them to join in on the sub-munching excitement. 

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The results

We wanted to measure the overall impressions generated by influencers across different tiers. The goal was to achieve maximum visibility and reach through a strategic collaboration with influencers. With meticulous planning and execution, Subway successfully partnered with diversed influencers, including 6 Macro, 30 Micro, and 70 Nano influencers. 

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The results from the campaign's performance across different tiers of influencers reveal some interesting insights. 

• First, it's worth noting that the cost per engagement was consistently low, indicating that the campaign was cost-effective overall.
• For the engagement rates, the data reaffirms what we discussed in the previous article. Nano-influencers had the highest engagement rate at 9.3%, followed by micro-influencers at 4.4% and macro influencers at 3%. Despite having a smaller overall reach, nano influencers were able to generate higher levels of engagement with their audience. On the other hand, macro influencers, with their massive followings, had a slightly lower engagement rate.
• These findings highlight the importance of leveraging all three tiers of influencers in a campaign. Macros can help create initial buzz and reach a wider audience, while micros and nano-influencers excel in building authentic connections and fostering deeper engagement. 

The takeaway from this campaign

Influencer marketing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. The results from this case study show that a combination of macro, micro, and nano influencers can yield impressive outcomes. 

By leveraging influencers across all tiers, brands can achieve broad awareness and deep connections with their audience. So, when planning your next influencer campaign, consider the power of collaboration across different tiers to maximise your impact and drive meaningful results.

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