Subway’s Bread Controversy Earlier This Year Affected Purchase Intent

Remember the Food Babe-led azodicarbonamide controversy around Subway’s bread that started in February? Food Babe, a popular nutritional blogger, started a petition (surrounded by a lot of noisy press coverage) putting major pressure on Subway to remove the offending chemical from its bread recipe due to its link to health issues. Momentum for the story gained in coming months as the compound was discovered in various other foods, leading Subway to remove it from its bread in late April.

Subway, widely regarded as one of the most respected brands in the Quick Serve Restaurant category, experienced a downturn in brand health as this story played out. This dip could be seen in the trend chart, below, on consumer likelihood to eat at Subway from Ace Metrix BRANDCOMPASS™, a brand equity tracking service launched today that provides timely, actionable insights on a brand’s health across multiple dimensions such as innovation, trust, value, respect, purchase intent, and likelihood of consumers to recommend. The news story reached critical mass in April, when it started to affect broad public opinion, which was quickly identifiable by BRANDCOMPASS in the first week of May.

Note: Ace Metrix BRANDCOMPASS is a brand equity tracking service that provides timely, actionable insights on a brand’s health across multiple dimensions such as innovation, trust, value, respect, purchase intent, and likelihood to recommend. BRANDCOMPASS scores range from of 1-100. More than 2 points of movement in either direction for any component is a mark of significance due to large sample sizes.

Shortly after reformulating its bread recipe, Subway debuted its “Bread on the Rise” ad, which was in constant rotation in May and June (Ace Score: 651, well above a norm of 550). The ad told the story of the pride that Subway takes in its bread, before subtly calling out its reformulation, which added vitamin D and calcium, while taking out high fructose corn syrup, added trans fats, and azodicarbonamide. The creative was tastefully executed; without adding to the spectacle, it reassured customers that the necessary change had been made. From a creative performance perspective, “Bread on the Rise” was great, as it provided the necessary information to change perceptions of the brand while generating product desire… all while driving a positive emotional reaction.

Consumer verbatims add context to these strong scores, some specifically noting how they appreciated Subway listening to its customers to address the issue, while others were not even aware of the issue, but were happy to see the company finding ways to improve… a testament to its nuanced creative approach.

As Subway’s decision to reformulate its bread became public knowledge, along with support from “Bread on the Rise,” brand health also began to rise, returning to where it had been before the story broke.

Note: Ace Metrix BRANDCOMPASS is a brand equity tracking service that provides timely, actionable insights on a brand’s health across multiple dimensions such as innovation, trust, value, respect, purchase intent, and likelihood to recommend. BRANDCOMPASS scores range from of 1-100. More than 2 points of movement in either direction for any component is a mark of significance due to large sample sizes.

This story showcases the ability for BRANDCOMPASS to sense what impacts consumer sentiment toward brands and if actions taken by the brand effectively reshape those opinions. In this case, Subway did the right thing by promptly addressing a concern that was widely shared by consumers and took the right course of action to regain their confidence.