Fewer media dollars, bigger rivals: how to compete, with Firehouse Subs CMO

Firehouse Subs is the fourth-largest sub chain in North America, competing against rivals with bigger media budgets and a larger share of voice. Its guests visit for occasions rather than out of habit, anywhere from once a month to three times a year. For Carolina Berti, chief marketing officer for the U.S. and Canada, growth means more visits, not bigger checks. Berti explains how the 1,500-unit chain pairs linear TV for awareness in newer markets with a heavier bet on social media. Its core guests are families and sports fans 35 and older, but Gen Z already makes up about 9% of customers, a share she wants to grow. As Firehouse plans to add more than 100 stores a year, local marketing teams work with franchisees to build demand before each opening. She also describes drawing on the media, technology and purchasing scale of parent company Restaurant Brands International while resisting a one-size-fits-all corporate playbook. Berti discusses why Firehouse picked Camp+King as its new creative agency and how its first national partnership, with Major League Baseball, combines national awareness with a youth program that brings the brand into local communities. She also shares how revamping the steak and cheese melt brought guests back more often and why a firefighter heritage, backed by more than $112 million in foundation donations to first responders, gives Firehouse something bigger rivals can't copy.