Subway Joins Facebook, Starts Giving Away Sandwiches

December 30th, 2009

By Chad Catacchio

Surprisingly, Subway did not have an official fan Page on Facebook until Christmas Eve. Since announcing the Page on Twitter yesterday, they have been running a Facebook ad campaign that has helped it quickly climb to 215,000 fans (at the time of writing).

We say surprising because Subway is one of the top advertisers in the food service industry with a $375 million annual advertising budget, and because very soon Subway will have more locations than McDonald’s in the United States. So it is a bit surprising that they’ve taken this long to get on Facebook, where many other fast food chains and food brands already have a strong presence.

Though late to the game, Subway seems to have thought out their Page, and are already running a video commercial sneak peak and a giveaway promotion. The exclusive video is a new twenty second commercial featuring Olympian Michael Phelps underwater with his hands a foot apart (for their $5 foot-long subs).

The company’s promotion is also pretty strong. Subway will give away ten $50 gift certificates every week starting from yesterday and ending January 24, 2010 ~~(and per Facebook’s promotional rules, users do not have to be a fan of Subway’s Page to participate)~~. [Update: In fact, you do have to become a fan in order to participate.]. With the general popularity of Subway (and its $5 subs) coupled with this promotion and Subway’s penchant to spend on advertising, we anticipate that this Page will see very strong growth over the next month.

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6 Responses to “Subway Joins Facebook, Starts Giving Away Sandwiches”

Matt Simpson Says:
December 30th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Re: Per Facebook’s promotional rules, users do not have to be a fan of Subway’s Page to participate.

It appears to me that you do have to become a fan in order to win. Complete and submit the form and you’re warned that you cannot win without becoming a fan. Is everyone else seeing this?
scott Says:
December 30th, 2009 at 11:17 am
and per Facebook’s promotional rules, users do not have to be a fan of Subway’s Page to participate…This is incorrect. The link makes you become a fan before it accepts your entry into the sweepstakes. The message states you must be a fan to be eligible for the sweepstakes.
sarah Says:
December 30th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I followed the link to enter the Subway sweepstakes on facebook, contrary to your report that “per Facebook’s promotional rules, users do not have to be a fan of Subway’s Page to participate,” I was not allowed to enter the contest without being a fan of the Subway page.
Eric Eldon Says:
December 30th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Thanks for pointing this out, everyone. I’ve updated the story.
Mike Lewin Says:
March 8th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I went to it and it’s pretty lame.

Wonder who actually maintains the page?

Wonder if it’s a Subway corporate employee, or a franchisee, or their ad agency MMB, or a low wage kid in a ‘facebook sweat shop’ in some 3rd world country….?
Samantha Says:
July 14th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Wow..the Subway fan page is just awful. It looks like a franchisee who has no idea what they’re doing or anything about the branding. Soo many questions and comments left unanswered.

It’s worse to be in Social Media and do it all wrong than to not be there at all.

#Fail.