Subway makes plans to hold virtual 'cheesechella' music concert for new sub

Playing up on the much missed music concerts and events, Subway is planning to hold a Cheesechella virtual concert in Singapore and Malaysia later this month in line with its  "Extremely Mac & Cheesy Sub". Working with VaynerMedia, Subway said the concerts would feature live performances by talents such as Narelle Kheng, Talitha, Ffion, Leon Sapphire and more. It also launched the social-first campaign launched across Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand with a 15-second festival-style animated teaser video. The video highlights the ingredients of the Extremely Mac & Cheesy Sub through "Cheesechella", the campaign’s pseudo-festival. It is rolled across Subway's Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok channels, as well as offline media.

In a statement to MARKETING-INTERCATIVE, a spokesperson from VaynerMedia APAC, said that campaign aims to increase brand recall and sales conversion for Subway. Hang Ee Laine, Subway’s head of marketing for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau added that the company pushed for the virtual concerts because it wanted to keep the fun going and forge connections with its audience, wherever they may be.

VJ Anand, VaynerMedia APAC’s executive creative director said the agency wanted to pay homage to Subway’s "fresh" brand proposition with an idea that is relevant. "2020 was the year we missed out on a lot; from small things like gatherings with friends and family, to bigger things like holidays and parties. But because 2020 already came with so much bad news, we wanted something that is uplifting, so that we can start the new year with positivity. That’s how we came up with the idea of giving our audience a party, in a way that only Subway can - through a sub so cheesy and so rich, it’s like a party in your mouth. And so Cheesechella came to life," he said.

This campaign comes on the heels of Subway's recent Meat Stack campaign, where the company ran seemingly incomplete ads for its new Meat Stack sub, while claiming it did not have enough marketing budget after investing in the amount of meat in the sub. The campaign ran from September 2020 to January 2021, across Subway's Singapore and Malaysia markets. 

While the Meat Stack campaign generated a lot of buzz, VJ Anand said it is also important to the agency to optimise its ideas beyond buzz to generate curiosity and business results. "We’re glad that our daring ideas and the clients' bravado are giving the brand some buzz. We’re certainly on a roll with Subway but are also constantly learning every time we work on our campaigns. We’re very grateful for the marketing team at Subway and the way they constantly push us to try and experiment with new things," Anand added.

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