Jeff Larson, Subway Restaurants

Vice President of Global Marketing

Jeff Larson’s global role at Subway is complex. He leads a marketing team that’s responsible for over 43,000 retail locations in 110 countries, which represents more than 35 million meals per week in the United States and over 50 million globally.  Subway also generates over $17 billion in sales.  During the 8 years he’s spent at there, Jeff has seen the brand grow from #5 to #2 in the Quick Service Restaurant category, while WPP’s BrandZ has continually ranked Subway as a leader for Growth in Brand Value.

Ask Jeff how he does it, and his answer is always straightforward:  To be a strong marketer today, you need to combine the discipline of CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) thinking with the immediacy of retail marketing. There are good lessons to be learned from both the CPG and retail worlds, but today you really need both to be effective.”

Jeff Larson’s background combines the two. He spent 8 years at Procter & Gamble, and has been with Subway Restaurants since 2006. Plus, his background with Anderson Consulting (now Accenture), combined with a stint at business school, help him to think critically and analytically while keeping pace with a real time world.

He admits that his world-class CPG background at P&G taught him to run a business via a brand management model. He continues to believe that one has to be a marketing manager and a general manager to have a holistic view of any brand—increasingly one of today’s critical foundational skills.

His role at Subway always takes into account retail’s “powerful sense of urgency.”  He calls the world of retail “active management” that provides the opportunity to experiment, iterate, and fail quickly. “You’re constantly learning your way to success,” he adds.


And Jeff’s learned a lot along the way.  He’s led several highly-recognized brand building initiatives including $5 Footlongs, the launch of Breakfast, Fresh Fit and the collaboration with Disney among others.  He focus is always on big ideas brought to life as fully-integrated marketing campaigns spanning multiple platforms.

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