Subway, the new naming rights partner of Football Australia’s men’s national football teams, activated its official tie-up with the Subway Socceroos, Subway Olyroos, Subway Young Socceroos, and Subway Joeys through an on-pitch, in-store and digital ‘Football and Footlongs’ initiative which kicked off at the Socceroos Centenary and Farewell Match at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on 22 September.
Rolling out ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the debut activation programme spanned in-stadium and perimeter LED branding and messaging, media boards, as well as a set of launch creative running across social channels which made the most of the shared ‘green and gold’ brand/team colour schemes, plus PR and a ‘Free Gameday Delivery’ offer in harness with DoorDash and Subway’s 1200 store locations across Australia.
You're looking at the official Sandwich Artists for the Socceroos and CommBank Matildas. #FootballAndFootlongs pic.twitter.com/zherGkHBaz
— Subway Australia (@subwayaustralia) September 21, 2022
The official crowd tonight at Suncorp Stadium is 25,392 ️
We appreciate your support #AUSvNZL #GoSocceroos #GiveIt100 pic.twitter.com/YhoR3tP3lg
— Socceroos (@Socceroos) September 22, 2022
This morning’s pre-match press conference, featuring Tony Vidmar, who was also named in the @SUBWAY #Socceroos Team of the Century which will be released later today #AUSvNZL #GiveIt100 pic.twitter.com/6xudKs0qq6
— Socceroos (@Socceroos) September 22, 2022
Football Australia is delighted to unveil @SUBWAY as the new naming rights partner of the country’s much-loved National Senior Men’s Football Team, the @Socceroos.https://t.co/j5x3PIOggc
— Football Australia (@FootballAUS) September 21, 2022
Subway Country Director for Australia and New Zealand Shane Bracken commented that he was excited by the opportunities ahead and to reinforce the shared similarities and values between Subway and Football Australia.
“This is a partnership of two iconic brands and binds together a sandwich chain enjoyed by millions worldwide and a sport that millions play, participate in and support across the globe,” Bracken outlined. “Subway is proud to be partnering with Football Australia at such an exciting time for the game – not only across the national men’s and women’s teams, but as junior players move through the ranks and become our next line of role models and heroes. Our Aussie football stars have a huge few years ahead of them and Subway is looking forward to being part of the journey and helping make the game of football even bigger than it is right now. From one green and gold team to another – we’ll be cheering from the sidelines and across our stores.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Subway as the naming rights partner of the now, Subway Socceroos and our men’s national youth teams for the next three years. We are also pleased to see Subway join as a partner of the Australia Cup, as we approach a history making Australia Cup Final on 1 October at CommBank Stadium in Sydney,” commented Football Australia CEO James Johnson on the new tie-up.
“Subway joins us at a time of unprecedented interest and growth in Australian football. The team at Football Australia has worked tirelessly to strategically position our iconic national teams in an increasingly competitive market and this record-breaking partnership, which follows a series of other commercial announcements over the past two years, demonstrates how deeply the Subway Socceroos and CommBank Matildas resonate with the Australian public,” Johnson continued. “It also continues our efforts to work with brands which align with our own values and as the top-ranked company on YouGov’s Dining and Quality Rating Standards, we are delighted to be working with another high performing team. The Subway partnership announcement is highlighted by the Centenary celebrations of the Subway Socceroos, as they build towards a sixth FIFA World CupTM appearance later this year and coincides with the team’s Farewell match against New Zealand in Brisbane. To add further to our Centenary celebrations, we have recently partnered with the Royal Australian Mint to launch a limited edition 2022 Socceroos Centenary $2 Coin, and Australia Post which has released two new stamps commemorating 100 years of the Australian men’s national football team. We are delighted that together with Subway, we can write the next chapter of Australian football and we welcome them to the Football Australia family.”
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The activation will ramp up in line with the approaching Qatar 2022 – which kicks off in November – and for which Australia qualified following a 5-4 penalty shootout win over Peru. The tournament marks the fifth consecutive time that Australia has reached the men’s World Cup and in the group games the Socceroos will face Denmark, France and Tunisia.
The new three-year partnership is the largest ever national team sponsorship deal in Australian football history and, as well as the naming rights to the men’s teams, it also sees the world’s largest sandwich chain (which boasts more than 37,000 locations globally) become an official category partner of the women’s CommBank Matildas team as well as the Australia Cup (the largest knock-out competition in Australia with more 700 teams from all corners of the country entering each year).
The deal sees Subway receive front of jersey branding across men’s national teams training and off-field apparel, as well as both Subway Socceroos and CommBank Matildas’ player mascots.
Plus Football Australia and Subway will collaborate on branded content, exclusive customer experiences and matchday activations, while Subway will promote the partnership through heavy integration into their above the line marketing activities.
In various global markets Subway makes sports a key strand of its marketing mix with flagship deals such as its USA tie-up with the NFL which in 2020 was based around a ‘Footlong’ campaign and back in 2015 included ‘Trophy Talk’.
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