Made-to-order sandwich chain Subway Restaurants is leveraging a cross-partnership with Disney/Pixar for a new kids application, suggesting that food and beverage brands should team up with entertainment marketers for exclusive mobile content.

The Subway Kids app was created to offer younger consumers engaging content that brings their meals to life, such as games and videos, which will be replenished each month. Currently, the sandwich marketer is featuring content related to Disney/Pixar?s latest film, Inside Out, to ramp up awareness of the movie and provide entertainment for children dining in-store with their families.

?Given the fact that many kids touch smartphones soon after birth ? or so it seems ? it isn't hard to see why Subway would partner with Disney for this app,? said Jeff Hasen, founder of Gotta Mobilize, Seattle. ?It provides entertainment while offering assurances to parents who control the App Store purchases that the environment will be safe.?

Major opportunity
National fast-food chains and restaurants would be well-suited to offering mobile apps for children who visit their locations to dine with their families. An excellent way of subsidizing costs would be to team up with entertainment brands, in the hopes of offering users a branded yet memorable experience in-store.

If customers were to receive incentives for playing a certain amount of games, it could also fuel more future purchases.

For the month of June, users can access a variety of content sponsored by Inside Out, a recent box office hit. Fans can play a memory game with matching character cards and also receive a special lunch box with each kids meal purchased at a Subway.

There are six different character-branded lunch boxes, which consumers are encouraged to collect.

Subway has promised users that it will not offer purchases within the Kids app, instead leaving its commerce capabilities to its regular mobile application.

On-the-go ordering
One month ago, the brand updated its eponymous app to include mobile ordering and payment capabilities. Consumers can now use their smartphones to find a nearby Subway restaurant, place an order and pick it up as soon as 15 minutes afterwards.

The order will also be saved for future use. Meals may be customized however users would like, and may be paid for directly within the app. 

This has the potential to save significant amounts of time for busy consumers who might otherwise circumvent visiting a Subway during peak dining times for fear of long lines.

Fellow food and beverage brand Starbucks is rolling out its mobile order-and-pay feature to thousands of United States stores after recognizing its potential in Portland, the initial test market, to increase sales, shorten store lines and drive customer satisfaction (see story).

Subway has also been ramping up its mobile efforts in-store, proving consumers? demand for connected experience while dining.

This past March, Subway wrapped up customer loyalty by urging guests to opt-in to Wi-Fi networks to receive free items and additional customized rewards, suggesting that Wi-Fi monetization is on the rise for food and beverage marketers (see story).

?This is a natural evolution of what has been traditional in-store promotion,? Mr. Hasen said. ?While it will be hard to tie the sale of foot-longs back to the effort, it does give parents and kids something of value that should make them feel even better about the brand."

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York