• by Teresa Buyikian , 89 minutes ago

Subway’s new brand platform asserts that if customers actually listen to their inner voice, or their “SUBconscious” they will choose the sandwich chain over other options.

The star of the new “Feed Your SUBconscious” platform’s first campaign is comedian Will Arnett, who plays the many faces of various customers’ SUBconscious. In the hero ad, seen here, a voiceover opens with “There’s a part of you that knows how to eat better,” as several consumers are seen going through drive-thrus, drinking smoothies and heating up unappetizing food in a microwave, “and that part of you is me.” Arnett then appears in each scene, completely costumed as the consumer, hilariously serving as their inner voice that guides them to Subway.

As a cowboy character eats from a vending machine, his SUBconscious (Arnett) reminds him, “You can’t move these cattle with a piece of beef jerky.” He appears as the SUBconscious of a woman in a sauna, crumbling her sad, dry protein bar in his/her hands.  He chucks a microwaved plate of food into the garbage, further extolling the virtues of Subway and its sandwiches’ ingredients.

Overall Arnett plays five distinct characters, “each representing the voice that appears when a craving strikes or a food decision needs to be made.”

“Most advertising tries to convince people of something. This campaign begins with something they already know,” said Jeff Klein, CMO, Subway, in a release. “They know when they're settling for a meal they do not really want and when lunch is about to become an afternoon regret. Feed Your SUBconscious gives that instinct a voice, with Will Arnett reminding people that Subway offers satisfying, freshly prepared food, made exactly how they want it, with value that makes the choice even easier.”

The campaign runs across broadcast and streaming television, streaming audio, digital, social media, in-restaurant and other owned channels. The brand teased that future executions will continue “to introduce America to the characters as Feed Your SUBconscious evolves.”