How many people does it take to order a Subway sandwich? One? Five? Twenty-five? Spoiler alert: a lot more.
For Subway, solving the lunchtime traffic puzzle wasn’t as easy as it might sound. Simply throwing ads into the market just wasn’t cutting it. They needed a strategic partner, and they found one in News Corp Australia.
Rodica Titeica, Subway’s chief marketing officer, known for her inquisitive nature, was frank: their attempts to boost foot traffic had stalled. “They were honest from the start, which helped,” said Kelly Healy, a key player in the campaign.
This honesty proved to be the crucial ingredient in unlocking a solution that went far beyond a simple media buy.
News Corp Managing Director and Publisher, Free News and Lifestyle Pippa Leary and Chief Marketing Officer, Subway, Rodi Titeica
Where challenges meet solutions
The breakthrough came during News Corp Australia’s Frontiers program, an annual series of events designed to bring together agency decision-makers with News’ editorial and commercial leaders.
The sessions are intentionally intimate and immersive, designed to get under the skin of marketing challenges. “It enables us to go really deep with our agency partners in a very relaxed, closed environment,” Healy explained.
Zenith, Subway’s media agency, took full advantage. They came to the Frontiers session, laid out their challenge, and started workshopping it with the News team on the spot.
That moment of honesty became the foundation of something much more ambitious.
“At Frontiers, we could unpack a challenge that we never knew existed for Subway,” Healy revealed. “But it wasn’t just a challenge for Subway; it was a category challenge for all of us, and that’s where the insight came.” This level of transparency, Healy stressed, is rare in standard briefs.
Unlocking intent and impact
Rather than receiving a traditional brief, the News Corp Australia team gained real context into what was keeping Subway up at night: a significant dip in lunchtime quick service restaurant consumption.
That understanding allowed them to pivot their strategy entirely.
The resulting ‘SUBHOURS’ campaign combined data-driven targeting with creative storytelling. Using ‘Intent Connect’s Content Connect’, the campaign tapped into Mastercard and Azira data to build custom audience segments and delivered timely messages during peak hunger hours.
High-impact formats like the ‘Subscroller’ and ‘Portal Truskins’ amplified Subway’s message, while a four-part editorial series on news.com.au aligned the brand with culturally relevant moments like ‘World Sandwich Day’.
The results spoke volumes.
Editorial content averaged over five minutes of engagement, more than double the benchmark. Subway saw a 50% uplift in foot traffic, 13,628 incremental visits, and over 150,000 returning customers. A 3% sales uplift underscored the long-term brand impact.
General Manager Client Partnerships QLD|SA|WA, News Corp Australia, Kelly Healy
The trust factor
“Rodi is a great client. She’s inquisitive, asks a lot of questions, and leans in,” said Healy. “That kind of partnership is where the magic happens.”
It’s this kind of deep collaboration that makes the Frontiers format work so well. “We don’t usually get this kind of information in a standard brief,” Healy added.
“But when clients pull down the walls and share what’s really going on in their business, that’s when we can deliver something extraordinary.”
News Corp’s ability to go deep comes from its breadth. The company’s Growth Intelligence Centre provides research across multiple categories, while editorial leaders like Kerrie McCallum are available to engage directly with clients. Having boots on the ground, from the Northern Territory to local markets, means strategies aren’t just broad; they’re precise.
“Our world has changed. Agencies are being bombarded by publishers, but if you choose your core partners and go deep, the outcomes will be far stronger,” said Healy. “At News, we’re not just offering media solutions, we’re solving real client challenges.”
Healy added: “We get that a lot at News Corp, clients saying things like ‘I didn’t know news could do that’. But if you pick your core group of publishers and go deep with them, that will be so much more beneficial to your clients, outcomes, and campaign results.”
Honesty drives innovation
For Healy, it all comes back to trust and transparency. “My advice to CMOs is to be open. Share what keeps you up at night. You don’t need to have that conversation with every publisher, but find the ones you trust and go deep.”
Subway did just that. And in return, News Corp Australia didn’t just reach into its toolkit, they expanded it, built new products, and delivered meaningful results.
Because sometimes, the only way to order a Subway sandwich is together.