Milio’s Sandwiches

Madison, WI

Celebrating Thirty Delicious Years

Founded in 1989 with one location in the heart of the UW-Madison campus, Milio’s has since grown to over thirty restaurants across the Midwest. In 2019, we helped Milio’s — which prides itself on community involvement as well as on gourmet sandwiches — celebrate its 30th anniversary with a “throwback campaign” to drive sales and deepen its connection to fans.

Services Provided

Giveaway Campaign
Social Media Strategy
Digital & Radio Ads
“Tease and Reveal” Billboard Series
In-Store Point of Purchase

Creating a Nostalgic Community Connection

We devised a 30th anniversary campaign centered around “Big Mike’s Super Subs”: the original iteration of Milio’s prior to the sandwich shop’s first rebranding in 2004. By hosting an exciting giveaway, as well as creating and sharing “throwback” content, we successfully engaged customers and drove sales…all while celebrating this important milestone in Milio’s journey.

Giveaway Campaign

Our “One Year of Free Sandwiches” giveaway drove the overall campaign. We designed and built a landing page on milios.com to collect entries and gather data for retargeting purposes — all while bringing site visitors one step closer to purchasing a sandwich online.
Social Media Strategy

On Milio’s social channels, we celebrated the Milio’s of thirty years ago, posting Big Mike’s Super Subs throwback photos and related promos. We also encouraged our fans to share a memory of Big Mike’s Super Subs and describe what the sandwich shop had meant to them. Over 100 people shared a story.
Digital & Radio Ads

We launched a series of display ads, Facebook ads, and radio ads designed to generate excitement around Milio’s 30th anniversary and encourage fans to enter the free sandwich giveaway.
“Tease and Reveal” Billboard Series

We designed a series of billboards intended to drive interest and intrigue. During the first week of the campaign, we teased the Big Mike’s Super Subs throwback. In weeks two through four, we celebrated a 30-year commitment to great sandwiches under both the Big Mike’s Super Subs and the Milio’s Sandwiches name.
In-Store Point of Purchase

To round out the 30th anniversary throwback experience, we designed a full set of in-store point of purchase items to support the campaign. When customers walked into any Milio’s location, they were instantly transported to the Big Mike’s Super Subs of the 90s and early 2000s.

Results

The Campaign Boosts Milio’s Sales...Even After It Ends

The throwback giveaway campaign generated enough buzz that Milio’s saw an average sales lift of 6% over the previous year during the campaign’s two-month run. The positive trend continued into the aftermath of the campaign.

Milio’s Sees an Impressive Lift in Web Traffic

Our giveaway campaign — and the digital and radio ads that supported it — drove a 200% increase in web traffic over the course of the campaign compared to the period prior. Almost 16,000 people visited the giveaway entry page on Milio’s site.

The Campaign Generates Unprecedented Facebook Engagement

Our social reach and engagement skyrocketed as followers reminisced about Big Mike’s Super Subs and tried their hand at our trivia questions. During the campaign, we saw close to 1,000 shares on Facebook. There was so much buzz that one fan even started a Reddit thread speculating on the return of Big Mike’s Super Subs.

Over 10,000 People Enter the Giveaway

…And the best part? It wasn’t just longtime Milio’s fans getting in on the action. We collected close to 1,000 new email addresses and can now engage those new fans via email promos and updates.