Week 4 Part A: Defining Target Markets

Week 4 Part A: Defining Target Markets

    For the assignment, I looked at the two sandwich shops, Subway, and Hungry Bear. Clicking on both websites I witnessed an immediate difference in the design and appeal of what both shops offer. As Subway is an internationally known brand, they need to keep a very broad appeal. If you go to a Subway in downtown San Diego, it's most likely going to taste and look the same in Ontario, Canada. While Hungry Bear is very clearly targeted at Californians and has a very strong family-owned business feel right from the website. Subway has a green, yellow, and white design on each page, with its logo in the top right corner and a simple but effective menu across the top to get you to buy, order, or locate a franchise location. While Hungry Bear has the logo front and center, the bear on the California flag munching on a sandwich is their logo, and a bigger image in the center of the page, with different pictures of delicious-looking sandwiches crossfading from one another behind it. The color scheme of the page reflects the state colors on the flag, the big bright red, green, and white accenting each other all across their website. 

    The big obvious difference between the two is that Hungry Bear clearly wishes to stand out in what they are and what they are offering from the jump. Directly under the logo is a big red button leading to their menu of sandwiches, going further down in information on the location, their socials, and a review board to post about your own experience with reviews from others scrolling by. while Subway keeps itself more open and reserved in a sense of what they offer, finding most of the actual information about the brand near the bottom of the page as well, and focusing on promotions of what services they offer, like catering, new menu options, or take-out. The first thing you notice on screen is the big ad for the ongoing football season, scrolling down leads to more ads and promotions to entice you to order from them.

    The crossover between the two is spare. Mainly people who eat sandwiches, the appeal I believe is if you go to Subway, you'll know what to expect. You eat at one, you've eaten at basically all of them and they know that, so they promote themselves as safe and effective, which is the feeling I get from the website. While Hungry Bear wants you to remember them, looking at their website is very enticing looking at their about section, they say about themselves, "We offer the best subs and sandwiches in San Diego, along with salad and side options." and that statement really does make me want to check them out. "Maybe they DO offer the best subs? I should go find out for myself." And that's exactly what they want you to think about them. 

    The calls to action I noticed are that Subway wants you to buy their product and they market towards that. You order from them because it's simple and they make it incredibly easy and reliable. They are a big corporation and market themselves as such, you know what you're getting into and why you can trust them, so why not order for a football or catering party? While Hungry Bear markets themselves, they're a small mom-and-pop shop from California and darn well proud of it. Only they can make sandwiches they do, "our past customers have loved the food so why wouldn't you?", type of marketing. They want you to buy into them as much as the product they offer and it works very effectively. 

    The aesthetics of Hungry Bear are, "we are who we are, and you'll love us for that.", while Subways is, "You know us and you already love us, why not buy more?" Both are effective in their strategy, as well as, smart in who they target, Hungry Bear is looking for Californians or Tourists, the same ones who visit and want to try In-n-Out for the Californian experience, Subway wants to appeal to everyone and keep the customers they do have satisfied by updating based on what's already appealing about them. Overall, however, I believe I might give the edge to Hungry Bear and their style of approach, as just from the first look at the website, they had my attention and my appetite.