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Subway Caves (I mean Cares)
May 29, 2008Alert Blog Reader BJ points out that Subway has launched a new page concerning their writing contest and home schooling: Subway Cares.
Although I had a little fun with the title of this post*, kudos to Subway for responding to the concerns of the home schooling community (and others, I'm sure) by providing an explanation for the initial "gaffe" and offering a solution. The solution appears to be the creation of an additional contest "in which home schooled students will be encouraged to participate."
There's a great marketing lesson here if you dig past all of the angst and political trauma: Subway's contest probably received much more attention that it would have otherwise garnered if they had included home schoolers. Now that their oversight has been widely examined, the challenge for Subway is how to turn this into a win. By responding fairly quickly, offering an explanation and promising an opportunity for a level playing field (if you'll pardon the pun) I think they end up coming out on top.
Alert Sandwich Eater Tammy has stepped down to DEFCON 4 and is once again considering what sort of sub to get. (Full disclaimer: Subway may or may not be the closest sandwich shop to the Schaad Casa. I'm just saying.)
*The title of the post was too clever to pass up, but I want to point out that I'm not actually suggesting that the title of the Subway page actually says "Subway Caves." (See below.) I'm something of a typography geek, and something of a marketing geek, but even on my best day am probably not a threat to anyone in either category. But Subway should exercise extreme caution with their messaging moving forward, since so many people will be looking at this carefully.
Comments
This kind of humor makes the world a better place : )
Posted by: Gary | June 5, 2008 1:27 PM