Dive Brief:

• Branding firm Vivaldi teamed up with the consultancy CMB for a report made available to Marketing Dive titled "The Power of Social Currency," which analyzed the social cache of quick service restaurants (QSRs).
• Subway came out as the top brand for "social currency" followed by Olive Garden, Wendy’s, Chili’s and Cinnabon. Other brands examined include McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, Chipotle and Burger King. 
• The term "social currency" was coined by Vivaldi in 2010. According to Vivaldi, the value "measures the ability of brands to fit into how consumers manage their social lives in today's digital and mobile age” and includes seven dimensions: personal identity, social identity, expression, conversation, affiliation, information and utility. The seven dimensions are defined from the consumer’s perspective.

Dive Insight:

Subway took the top spot with an indexed social currency composite score of 115. The score represents that Subway facilitates identity-building behavior 15% better than the average of the 90 brands included in the study. 

While Vivaldi's research is centered on QSR brands, the successes here provide deeper insights into how businesses across the board can better connect and engage with modern consumers.

For example, Subway reached the top spot in part thanks to its strong showing in the "expression" category through a series of ads that served as brand differentiators. One spot focused on vegetables and how Subway sources its ingredients, and another highlighted how the company makes its bread in-store daily. 

"The keys to success with [m]illennials [in QSR] are strong digital engagement, entertainment value and higher quality ingredients," David Palmer, RBC industry analyst, said in a statement. 

The report is based on business transformation stemming from customer-centricity, which accounts for technology changes in consumers' lives along with understanding and embracing the complexity of the modern consumer.