A Little Goes A Long Way: How Bite-Sized Sandwiches are Making Waves in the Sandwich Space

As one of the most recognizable sandwich businesses out there, Jimmy John’s has a good amount of freedom to get creative. Considering as much, it’s somewhat surprising the brand hasn’t done much on the menu innovation front—until 2019. While most famous for its freaky fast delivery program that the brand has notably kept in-house in the age of third-party partners, Jimmy John’s modernized its menu for the ages with the addition of $3 miniature sandwiches called Little Johns.

Earlier this year, USA Today reported that Jimmy John’s was being sold to Arby’s parent company Inspire Brands. In the immediate aftermath of the sale, the Little Johns arrived as part of a new effort to increase revenue, per the Dallas News. The mini-wiches were rolled out with much pomp and circumstance, namely, through a collaboration with rapper Lil Jon.

“Jimmy John’s, love the name of the new sandwich, man. Great marketing, especially using me,” Lil Jon said, per AdAge. The rapper’s endorsement and the surrounding campaign was amplified via augmented reality Snapchat Lens along with a mobile game.

While the QSR brand is certainly not the first to embark on a celebrity-endorsed marketing campaign, it is leading the way when it comes to innovative mobile advertising. By turning the Snapchat Lens that exists in what is primarily an image-messaging app into a mobile game, Jimmy John’s is strengthening the reach of its messaging. Not only are users engaging with an amusing branded experience in a way that they control, but they are also sharing selfies on Snapchat, boosting the campaign's overall reach among the platform's millions of users.