Subway Restaurants? franchisees are ramping up to court fans of the Washington Redskins football team by rolling out mobile sweepstakes and SMS promotions, proving that sports-based activations are successful in boosting subscription bases.

Subway is leveraging a series of mobile-optimized campaigns, powered by engagement platform Mobivity, to kick off the start of National Football League season, including a text-to-win sweepstakes that rewards winners with Washington Redskins tickets and Subway offers. Sports activations on mobile have proven to be effective marketing methods for quick service restaurants, suggesting that Subway could be on its way to a fruitful fourth quarter.

?Subway D.C. market is using mobile to drive customer engagement and create an emotional connection with their customers,? said Bryan Ehrenfreund, vice president of marketing at Mobivity, Inc., Chandler, AZ. ?By partnering with passionate fans to create these emotional connection, Subway is then able to use mobile marketing as a more personal, direct, one-to-one marketing vehicle to reach their customers. 

?SMS promotions are 10 times more likely to be redeemed than traditional mail or newspaper coupons, and our early tests of our patented pending SmartSMS technology is exceeding the national average redemptions for SMS marketing, ranging anywhere from seven percent to 40 percent.?

Jumpstarting subscriber bases
Subway?s regional franchisees in the D.C. metropolitan area are hoping to build their SMS subscriber bases with the new promotions, and are doing so by tying in the fast food chain?s partnership with the Washington Redskins.

Consumers who are fans of Subway as well as the D.C.-based team will have double incentive to participate, especially since the promotions cater to on-the-go mobile users.

One particular text-to-win campaign features in-store signage in Subway stores that asks consumers to text the word ?REDSKINS? to a designated number for a chance to participate in the instant win game. Prizes include on-field experiences, Redskins game tickets, a training camp VIP package and additional offers to use at Subway restaurants.

Subway is not the only food and beverage marketer leveraging a cross-partnership to drive SMS sign-ups.

PepsiCo is also taking to mobile to promote its National Football League sponsorship by encouraging users to text football-related keywords to a designated number and receive links to microsites offering sweepstakes entries to win Pepsi merchandise (see story).

The Mobivity-powered campaigns commenced on Sept. 20 and will run through the rest of the football season.

Additionally, Subway is planning to test four different marketing channels during this time period, to determine which vehicle offers the most success among consumers. Pilot programs will encompass digital marketing in the stadium, in-stadium LED, in-store calls-to-action and radio.

Targeting sports enthusiasts
Subway has previously leveraged partnerships with the Washington Redskins to excite fans in the D.C. area. Previously, the restaurants would reward diners with free items or discounts after home games during which the Redskins scored 20 points or more.

Mobile is typically effective in capturing the attention of sports fans, and has led to numerous significant SMS activations following campaigns.

Last February, as McDonald?s continued its efforts to strengthen sales, the chain found success in leveraging sports activations within its McD mobile application that offered promotions tied to local sports teams, resulting in 57 percent more active users in those markets (see story).

?Subway?s goal is to utilize opt-in SMS marketing programs as a personalized, direct connection to their customers and give them access to Subway with the right message, at the right time,? Mr. Ehrenfreund said. ?Studies have found that millennials and GenX use their mobile device more than a quarter of the time to view content. 

?By adding the SmartSMS layer and mobile marketing to their existing brand plans, Subway will get a one/two punch of attracting new users and then making them loyal and engaged customers.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely, staff writer on Mobile Marketer, New York