Subway showed the biggest metric gains of three dining chain ad campaigns, which launched on July 10th, though the initial success for all of them was modest, according to YouGov BrandIndex.
The overall trend for Subway, Applebee's, and Red Lobster is an initial rise of about three to five days, then a retreat, implying that none of them sustained those initial campaign gains following the campaign launches.
The toughest metric to make headway on was Purchase Consideration, a key indicator of potential revenue. Subway did best, demonstrating a two percentage point gain in a very competitive sector. Applebee’s and Red Lobster tacked on modest one point amounts for just a couple of days before falling back.
YouGov BrandIndex measured Subway, Applebee's, and Red Lobster with three metrics: Buzz ("If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?"), Quality ("Is it high quality or low quality?"), and Purchase Consideration ("When you are going out to dine, from which of the following brands would you consider purchasing?”).
Subway’s “Footlongs” campaign, the first new work from The Martin Agency, seemed to propel the sandwich chain to the best gains in all three metrics. Its tagline: “So much sandwich.” Subway leads the other two chains in all three metrics, as well.
Applebee’s came to a close second place finish, tying Subway for gain in Buzz score, yet falling a little short in its quality perception.