One random jalapeño captured Subway’s “Get Your Own Way” promise

One customer wanted a single jalapeño placed randomly in their Spicy Italian, making the next spicy bite a surprise. Subway’s “Get Your Own Way” campaign made requests like that the substance of its advertising.

Created by Saatchi & Saatchi, the campaign launched on October 1, 2026 as Subway’s first standalone EMEA brand campaign. It built a wider proposition around the decisions customers made at the counter, from bread and fillings to sauce and toasting.

The idea travelled across several formats. Outdoor ads reproduced customers’ unusual requests, comedy films explored what happened when that confidence left the restaurant, and a new visual identity borrowed from the ingredient containers behind the counter.

Real receipts put individual tastes on display

The outdoor work featured black-and-white images of actual Subway receipts. Special requests became the copy, giving customers’ preferences a prominent place in the campaign.

One asked, “Add as much sweetcorn as you can without getting fired.” Another wanted enough garlic-and-herb sauce to defeat a vampire. The randomly placed jalapeño supplied another example of how specific an order could become.

These requests gave customisation a human voice. The receipt showed the details of an order, while the wording revealed something about the person making it.

The format also connected the promise to a familiar piece of the transaction. Customers’ instructions, recorded as part of buying a sandwich, became material for a billboard.

Two films took counter confidence into the outside world

Directed by Andrew Gaynord, the two hero films followed customers who ordered their subs exactly as they wanted them, then attempted to exercise the same freedom elsewhere.

In “Footie,” a customer changed the television channel while football was playing at the pub. In “Driving Instructor,” a shopping trip interrupted a driving lesson.

Both films extended an accepted behaviour at Subway into a setting where other people had different expectations. The humour came from the customer assuming their preferences would receive the same accommodation beyond the sandwich counter.

That gave the platform a repeatable film structure. A personalised order established the confidence, and an everyday situation outside Subway supplied the complication.

Ingredient trays supplied the shapes of the new identity

The visual refresh drew on Subway’s metal ingredient containers, known as bains. These were the objects holding the choices customers could make, so their shapes became the foundation of the design system.

The identity included an updated colour palette, typography and photographic style, extending the proposition across the customer experience.

The connection between the trays and the campaign was practical. The food counter was where the brand’s promise took place, and the design borrowed directly from that setting.

A flexible platform for EMEA markets

The rollout spanned online video, outdoor, radio and print. Reactive editorial placements in The Sun and Metro were also planned to respond to the news agenda.

The film production was designed to accommodate different markets. Flexible scenes and a reliance on voiceover allowed local adjustments, including changing which side of the road the driving scene used.

Across the campaign, the same customer experience supplied the material. The films exaggerated the confidence of choosing, the receipts recorded the choices themselves, and the identity borrowed from the counter where those decisions became a meal.

Credits

Brand: Subway. Campaign: Get Your Own Way. Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi. International CMO: Louise Wardle. Chief Creative Officer: Franki Goodwin. Creative Directors: Nick Bygraves and Michael Thomason. Creatives: Dan Kenny, Matthew Tassell, Tom Lee, James Reynolds and Becca Duggan. Head of Design: Ben McNaughton. Design Director: Kevin Hipke. Production Company: MindsEye. Director: Andrew Gaynord. Executive Producer: Debbie Ninnis. Producer: Giordi Caputo. Cinematographer: Benjamin Cotgrove. Editing: The Quarry. Editor: Scot Crane. Film Post-production: Harbor. Audio Post-production: Runamok. Sound Design and Mix: Jon Clarke. Composer: Stephen Ettery. Stills Photographer: Junior. Region: EMEA. Launch: October 1, 2026.