• Home:
• News:
• Subway:

SUBWAY(R) Restaurants Franchise, Clear Channel Radio and OurStage.com Partner to Change the Rules for Discovering Emerging Music Artists

SUBWAY FRESH ARTISTS™ Competition Searches for New, Unsigned Musicians – Offers Artists Chance to Open at Upcoming Goo Goo Dolls Concert

Promotion Supported with Radio and Digital Advertising on Clear Channel Platforms – With Competition Engine Provided by OurStage.com SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In partnership with the SUBWAY® restaurants chain, Clear Channel Radio kicked off a new, nationwide campaign and competition, SUBWAY FRESH ARTISTS™, which will give one talented unsigned music artist/band the chance to open for the Goo Goo Dolls at an upcoming concert.

The first phase of the competition, promoted on the SUBWAY® brand's consumer-facing digital platforms, opened last week inviting artists to submit new compositions of "wake up" songs. The submissions are designed to cater to morning drive radio listeners to help jump start their day and complement SUBWAY®'s "Build Your Better Breakfast" campaign. The public has the opportunity to vote for their favorite band via the iheartradio.com network, Clear Channel Radio websites and OurStage.com. Artist and consumer response has been enthusiastic – 1230 "wake up" songs have been uploaded by artists, and consumers have already voted more than 280,000 times for their favorite SUBWAY FRESH ARTISTS™.

"SUBWAY is a brand and business that is all about opportunity," said SUBWAY Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust Chief Marketing Officer, Tony Pace. "With SUBWAY FRESH ARTISTS, we are providing an opportunity for emerging musical artists to perform and be heard by a larger audience. We are pleased to provide that opportunity and glad to give our consumers an early peak at some emerging artists. We also believe in multi-platform programs, and this works well across several media content platforms."

"SUBWAY FRESH ARTISTS is changing the paradigm for discovering and monetizing musical content," said John Partilla, President of Global Media Sales and Executive Vice President of Clear Channel. "This is a win-win for all concerned – for SUBWAY, for fans of new music, for Clear Channel's media platforms, for the Goo Goo Dolls band, and for the new artists themselves. What we're doing here is leveraging incredible, fresh content to deliver added value for SUBWAY's marketers."

"Over this past year, OurStage.com has been working with an ever growing list of major industry players," said Ben Campbell, CEO of OurStage.com. "But having the opportunity to partner with Clear Channel, SUBWAY®, and Goo Goo Dolls at once is really a revolutionary way for us all to use our respective strengths to achieve something extraordinary; to further change the music industry for the better."

The competition provides an engaging complement to the significant consumer marketing campaign the SUBWAY® brand is airing across Clear Channel stations/Premiere Networks, digital ads on Clear Channel radio station websites, as well as the iheartradio digital platform.

The cross-platform integration behind SUBWAY FRESH ARTISTS™ was facilitated by Content & Company, which specializes in connecting brands to customers through new media and branded entertainment channels, helping marketers create engaging opportunities around their own original programming, rather than simply sponsor pre-existing properties.

How SUBWAY FRESH ARTISTS™ Works

Competition opened on September 10 – giving artists the opportunity to upload their songs – and consumers the chance to judge their favorites via OurStage.com's Remote Competition Module (RCM) that is live on Clear Channel Web sites, iheartradio.com, and OurStage.com. With the country divided into 10 regions, the top 50 fan favorite artists/bands from each region will advance to a second round on October 1. A panel of Clear Channel Radio programming directors will help choose one winner in each region, who will all receive $500 SUBWAY® Cards and $1,000 cash prizes. The Goo Goo Dolls will help finalize the competition by joining in the selection of one lucky grand prize winner who will get the chance to be the opening act at a future Goo Goo Dolls concert, plus a $1,000 cash prize and a session with a professional song writer.

Additionally, consumer engagement will be spurred by prizes for 10 regional winners who will each receive a $50 SUBWAY® Card and a Goo Goo Dolls merchandise package. One consumer Grand Prize winner will be named the top Fan Predictor on OurStage.com and receive two tickets and a meet-and-greet to a future Goo Goo Dolls concert.

About SUBWAY® Restaurants

The SUBWAY® restaurant chain is the world's largest submarine sandwich franchise, with more than 33,000 locations in 91 countries. Headquartered in Milford, Connecticut, and with regional offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Brisbane, Miami, and Singapore, the SUBWAY® chain was co-founded by Fred DeLuca and Dr. Peter Buck in 1965. The SUBWAY® brand was ranked the number one global franchise opportunity in Entrepreneur magazine's 2010 "Annual Franchise 500" listing for the 17th time in 23 years.

About Clear Channel Radio

Clear Channel Radio is a leading radio company focused on serving local communities across the U.S. with an audience of more than 110 million choosing Clear Channel Radio programming each week. The company's content can be heard on AM/FM stations, HD digital radio channels, on the Internet, at iheartradio.com and on the iheartradio mobile application on iPods and smart phones, and used via navigation systems from TomTom, Garmin and others. The company's operations include radio broadcasting, syndication and independent media representation. Clear Channel Radio is a division of Clear Channel Communications, Inc. (OTCBB: CCMO), a leading global media and entertainment company.

About OurStage.com

OurStage.com is an online music destination unlike any other. It's a meeting space for music lovers, and the place where tomorrow's stars get discovered. Artists, fans and the entire industry come together here to celebrate and influence new music. Undiscovered artists submit their tracks to monthly music channels, fans rank their material, and industry professionals keep tabs on who's rising through the charts, rewarding the best of the best with priceless opportunities. Fans and artists are eligible for monthly prizes and life-altering prospects for success, made possible through OurStage.com's partnerships with media giants such as MTV; key radio conglomerates like Citadel Media and Radio-One; leading Web outlets like AOL Music; and major music festivals such as Bonnaroo, Bumbershoot, Noise Pop and CMJ. Founded in 2007, OurStage.com delivers music and editorial coverage to over 4 million monthly visitors from more than 170 countries, as well as development tools to more than 140,000 artists.

About Content & Company

Content & Company is a Los Angeles-based brand studio that creates and distributes content for Fortune 100 brands across multiple platforms, including the most powerful distribution channel of all: the brands themselves. The modern incarnation of the brand studio, Content & Company offers advertisers the opportunity to create their own programming rather than sponsor, or integrate into, existing properties. Founded by Stuart McLean, a recognized leader in the fields of brand marketing and branded content, Content & Company pairs consumer brands like Schick and SUBWAY with top Hollywood creative talent to create unforgettable original programming.

###