Jimmy John’s long has had the home delivery of fast food thing pretty well nailed, offering “Freaky Fast” delivery since 1983. And with 2,800 units, the chain had one of the industry’s largest delivery forces, with 45,000 drivers in 43 states. But as third parties like GrubHub and UberEats spread, Jimmy John’s uniqueness was declining. 

So the chain turned to WorkInProgress, Boulder, Colorado, to help reestablish its position. That started with “The Third-Party Promise” campaign with biting videos and out-of-home campaigns featuring tweets from dissatisfied third-party customers and headlines like “Freaky Fast, Not Uber Slow,” which also generated 500 million earned media impressions.

Next came an “Own the Zone” campaign highlighting Jimmy John’s decision to deliver only within a five-mile radius of stores to maximize freshness. It did this by slamming a delivery rider into an imaginary wall or stopping a delivery vehicle in its tracks at the five-mile mark, to the dismay of a customer. And a “Home In the Zone” essay contest, generating 700 million earned media impressions, bought one happy fan a home inside one of Jimmy John’s zones—relocating her from Hawaii to Oklahoma.

—Jack Neff