Jersey Mike’s Campaign
The objective of this campaign was to create a brand audit for Jersey Mike’s Subs. Jersey Mike’s originated in 1956 and was known as “Mike’s Subs” a non-franchised local sub shop in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. After 15 steady years, the owner Mike was discussing selling his shop. An employee named Peter Cancro, who was 17 years old at the time, received loans to become the owner of what was then “Mike’s Subs”. Shortly after his purchase, Peter expanded and opened a few more shops in the same relative area on the Jersey Shore. Mike’s Subs was still a local non-franchised shop until 1987, when Peter began franchising and locating in different locations, outside of New Jersey. To keep the authenticity of the shop’s origin, Peter officially changed the name to “Jersey Mike’s Subs”.
Today, Peter is still the CEO of Jersey Mike’s Franchise Systems Inc., and his franchising accomplished an opening of over 2,000 sub shops. The secret to Jersey Mike’s success is their top quality products and service.
*This project was done independently with a group for an advertising class.
Consumer Analysis
Jersey Mike’s Subs products are suitable for most age groups. Due to its nature of fresh products, Jersey Mike’s has created numerous combinations that enable wide distribution to the customers. There is no religious nor meat-sensitive concern because the products cover most needs, i.e. their veggie subs and lettuce wrap options. Jersey Mike’s Subs does not target a specific demographic, they cater to everyone. However, the core audience of Jersey Mike’s Subs are between the ages of 16-39 with no specific gender. The most likely income bracket to visit a Jersey Mike’s is between $50,000-$75,000. Moreover, they attract a certain audience if they are in a certain location. Jersey Mike’s Subs are commonly located in or near college towns, therefore college students (lower-middle income youth) are more targeted. Their audience tends to be tech savvy and know their way around social media platforms. Using California as an example, the state is home to 310 Jersey Mike’s locations. With Los Angeles being home to 18 of those locations and the median income in LA ranging from 25K to 200K across the city it can be inferred that their target audience falls anywhere within most economic status. Along with this their target audience encompasses all races, religions, gender, and peoples of differing levels of education.
Customer Personas
John and Emily are 19 year old college students at Quinnipiac University. They were talking about how hungry they were during their 11 a.m. class, but they couldn’t get cafeteria food because they ran out of meal points with it being so close to the end of the semester. Also, they couldn’t spend too much money since they are a college student budget. So, without the professor noticing, they pulled up the Jersey Mike’s Subs website and ordered some food online and set the pickup time to be right after their class ended. This gave them enough time to go pick up the food, eat it, and get to their next class on time.
They have a fast-paced lifestyle with going from class to class and doing homework with little to no time to get food.
Their interests: social media, modern technology, and having fun with friends.
Current Brand Strategy
Jersey Mike’s Subs current brand strategy is “giving… making a difference in someone’s life.” The company is determined to give back to their community. With constantly donating money to local communities, the company is not selfish. Jersey Mike’s Subs advertisements include the bright red, blue, and white colors which help the products be recognized on any platform. They often highlight how freshly cut their meats are while in store when ordering.
Recommendation for Brand Strategy
Jersey Mike’s last rebrand was in 2014 and included a new tagline “giving… making a difference in someone’s life.” Jersey Mike’s subs have evolved over the years, the company has become known for their delicious sandwiches. With sandwiches being Jersey Mike’s Subs number one seller, the brand can update their name to just “Jersey Mike’s.” The update to Jersey Mike’s can help modernize the brand and stick to the status-quo of what people already call the chain restaurant.
With the competitors of Jersey Mike’s mainly focusing on their social media and updating their logos, the company should also be following that lead but with a different approach. Even though Jersey Mike’s is active on their social media accounts, including college athletes will boost up their recognition even more. With the recent NCAA brand deals with athletes, Jersey Mike’s should be a part of that. Their target audience is based on a younger audience who typically spend a low amount of money on food. With NCAA athletes highlighting the chain fast food sandwich place, it can create a larger audience for people who are looking for cheap meals, but also for individuals that are very on the go. To add onto this idea, typically many athletes have a large following and typically have loyal followers. To start, with the recent Rutgers and Jersey Mike’s partnership, we believe the first “influencer” can be a member who is recognizable not just on the field but who is off the field as well. We suggest Arella Guirantes (@arella_karin), a senior redshirt women’s basketball player, with a verified instagram account and 38.8k followers. Arella was recently drafted to the Los Angeles Sparks and won the Werblin Award at Rutgers. With Arella graduating this coming year and going to Los Angeles, her partnership with Jersey Mike’s can start to grow to the west coast and expand this fast-food sandwich shop.
