Finding Your Inner Jared: A Must for Any Company

The best marketing campaigns are rarely created, but instead are often found. And they’re out there waiting to be discovered.

In April 1999, an under the radar article in the Indiana Daily Student about an obese Indiana University coed hardly seemed like the genesis of a company’s 10-year advertising campaign, however; it provided the basis for resounding success for one company and has changed the landscape of the fast food industry as we know it.

And that is exactly what happened when Ryan Coleman wrote about an obese dorm mate and caught the right person’s eye. How exactly did this come about?

In his article Coleman wrote  that when this student  “registered for a class, he didn’t base his choice on professor or class time like most students. He based which classes to register on whether he could fit into the classroom seats.” What an emotional situation, one that is geared to spark an uncomfortable emotional reaction and empathy from the reader for the student in question for getting himself into this situation.

But the story has a twist, one that involves this student having a serious medical scare  that prompted him to lose some serious weight. Enter a new attitude and a new diet. Three months into his diet, he weighed in at 330 pounds, almost 100 pounds lighter. The pounds kept flying off…300, 275, 250, 225, 210. Believe it or not he got down to 180 pounds, a whopping 245 pound loss!

How did he do it? (The subsequent marketing campaign was so effective you probably already know this part of the story…)

Simple. He ate at Subway.  A lot. He developed his own diet based on Subway subs and stuck to it.

His name…Jared Fogle. You know him. The guy who had the 60-inch waist but now can fit his entire body into the leg of one of his former pairs of pants. The guy who has been the centerpiece of Subway’s marketing campaigns for over a decade now. Yeah, that guy.

The first Jared ad ran on January 1, 2000 and soon the “Subway Diet” was featured on the news, on morning shows, in USA Today, on Oprah even! Sales for Subway began to boom and all because of an inspiring story that everyone can relate to on some level. The commercials were, and remain today, pretty simple. No fancy graphics or high-paid celebrities, although Jared himself is now a bit of a celebrity. Just Jared talking about how he lost weight and showing off the newest healthy sub.

Soon, every fast food chain under the sun began to offer healthier options and yet Subway remains at the top of the list in terms of people’s perceptions of healthy fast food, thanks in large part to the visual reminders they give us of Jared every so often.

How effective was Subway’s campaign?

According to data compiled by Compete in 2008 (the 10th year anniversary of the campaign being launched), Subway’s Fresh Buzz site which was launched to help customers engage with Jared and continues to provide diet and health information today, is 5x more likely to be visited by consumers who are focused on diet and health. More than any other national fast food chain, including McDonald’s.

The great news for the rest of us is that every company has a Jared, someone whose emotional story about their brand or product makes for such a compelling argument to buy that customers can’t help but respond to the message. Everyone likes to be inspired and inspiration leads to action.

Jared’s story is not about healthy eating or losing weight. It’s about a guy who reaches his potential and overcomes the odds, with the help of a certain product.

You have a Jared you just need to find him. Ask your customers to share their stories, it helps increase their sense of affinity to your brand by tying their story to yours.  Get real stories from real people. It works in the online world just as well as the offline world.

Jared’s story is a vivid reminder that great marketing ideas are rarely created, but found. Go find yours today!