Tony Pace
CMO & SVP, Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust (SFAFT)
As Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the SUBWAY® Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust (SFAFT), Tony develops integrated marketing and advertising programs to drive profitable sales in Subway restaurants around the world. Under his marketing leadership, the SUBWAY® brand has ascended in consumer ratings (Named #1 QSR on Millward Brown’s BrandZTM Top 10 List for Brand Momentum. Named #2 overall above brands like APPLE and WAL-MART) and is a top performer in terms of sales and traffic growth. The SUBWAY® chain is now the #2 QSR in total sales in the U.S. behind McDonald’s – moving up from #5 just three years ago - and dominated the category with over 17% growth in 2008, vs. industry average of 2.7%.
Tony has been the architect of highly visible and successful SUBWAY® marketing programs including: $5 FOOTLONGS, SUBWAY FRESH FIT®, Jared’s 10th Anniversary and SCRABBLE® AT SUBWAY®--now in its third year. These programs have been ground-breaking in the QSR industry. In fact, Advertising Age magazine noted that the $5 FOOTLONG, which has over 95% consumer awareness, has become the yardstick for fast-food meal deals. The $5 FOOTLONG is a success that has been imitated, but not yet duplicated, in the QSR category.
Since Tony arrived at SFAFT, he has increased national advertising from 33 to 52 weeks a year and added a digital marketing team to help take the brand to a whole new level. In addition, he orchestrated groundbreaking branded integrations on hit shows like The Biggest Loser and Chuck on NBC. Thanks to the seamless nature of these integrations, viewers have been left with a more favorable opinion of the SUBWAY® brand. However, it’s not just consumers who have a more favorable opinion of the brand; industry insiders point to it as a success story:
Earned the #1 Brand Equity score in the restaurant industry in the Harris Interactive Equitrend Brand Equity Study.#1 in ZAGAT’s Survey for Most Popular, Healthy Options, and Top Service for QSRs Designated #1 QSR by Phoenix Marketing International Audit -- earning the highest marks for brand leading indicators, advertising performance, consumer perceptions and visitation behavior. #1 among the “Marketing Giants,” is how QSR Magazine identified SUBWAY® spokesman Jared Fogle. It said, “Can you envision a campaign so simple and universally resonant that it still works for you 10 years down the road? Just don’t say it can’t be done.” Young & Rubicam’s Brand Asset Valuator named SUBWAY® along with iPod, Google and Target, as one of the top brands in terms of “Brand Energy.”
After earning his undergraduate degree from Notre Dame, and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business, Tony began his career at the international advertising firm of Young & Rubicam (Y&R). He worked on many high-profile accounts including DASH laundry detergent (Proctor & Gamble), TANG (General Foods), THOMAS’ English Muffins and KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN. He led the campaign to change the company name to KFC in recognition of shifting consumer attitudes towards food and health and using the music of Ray Charles to get consumers to cross the road to KFC. Tony was also responsible for the firm landing several prestigious accounts including TWA, Union Carbide (PRESTONE, SIMONIZE AND STP), and AMERICAN GREETINGS. During his 10 years at Y&R, Tony served as Associate Director of Marketing before he became one of the youngest vice presidents in the company’s history. He also spent time gaining valuable marketing expertise during his tenure at Y&R subsidiary companies Wunderman, the original direct marketing agency, and the global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller.
When Tony joined McCannErickson Worldwide in 1991 he worked on the "Always" campaign for COCA-COLA and helped the firm create an integrated marketing plan for COKE at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He also developed proximity and immediacy marketing programs to drive beverage sales in the QSR industry so he has seen beverage marketing from both the beverage and restaurant sides of the business. Tony also spent two years leading McCann Event Marketing, which he helped turn into Momentum—one of the top promotion agencies today. While there Tony orchestrated the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay through the United States.
During his time with McCann, Tony was integral to the development of many successful advertising campaigns for the firm including the David Spade "No" campaign (CAPITAL ONE BANK) and "The Whopper Says" (BURGER KING).
While leading McCann’s agencies in the Southwest (Houston, Dallas, Austin and New Orleans) his accounts included EXXON, TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, CHASE BANK, SIX FLAGS and State of Texas Tourism Division.