• by Karlene Lukovitz , April 15, 2010

Subway's latest marketing thrust combines a celebrity-focused advertising campaign with a Twitter engagement effort offering chances to win the chain's gift cards. 

Between April 14 and April 27, a "Tweet to Eat" promotion will focus each day on a famous Subway fan, encouraging people to tweet @subwayfreshbuzz to weigh in on why the "famous fan of the day" "is a great fit" for the Subway brand. Tweeting qualifies consumers to be entered for a chance to win $10 Subway gift cards (five cards will be awarded per day).

The celebrities, mostly sports figures, will also be tweeting to Subway fans from their own Twitter handles, a Subway spokesperson tells Marketing Daily.

Also during April, two new 30-second broadcast/cable television spots are featuring montages of the same famous Subway fans touting the chain's $5 Footlongs. Both spots emphasize the "everyday value" of the Footlongs, although one version overtly uses the theme, while another uses the premise of celebs sharing their "secrets" related to their favorite Footlong varieties/makings.

Featured celebrities include the NBA's (Los Angeles Clippers) Blake Griffin, the MLB's Ryan Howard (Philadelphia Phillies) and CC Sabathia (N.Y. Yankees), Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps and Nastia Liukin, Fox sports commentators Jay Glazer and Michael Strahan, professional boxer Laila Ali, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, and Subway spokesperson/weight management speaker Jared Fogle.

While timed to create synergy for the Twitter promotion, the TV spots do not actually allude to the social media contest.