Can a Twitter campaign and pointing people to buy a sub at Subway on Monday save Chuck? Chuck executive producer and co-creator Josh Schwartz hopes so. From the LA Times Show Tracker:
In an interview at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Schwartz said he had a good meeting with NBC about “Chuck’s” future, but he would not speculate on whether the show would survive. NBC, which is stripping Jay Leno across the 10 p.m. time period five nights a week, does not have a lot of real estate for shows like Schwartz’s that are on the bubble.
In the meantime, “Chuck” fans are taking matters into their own hands. According to Schwartz, there is a push on the Internet to get fans to go to Subway on Monday before the season finale to buy sandwiches in support of the show. Why Subway? Because the sandwich shop was featured prominently in a recent episode. So much for product placement turning off viewers. “It shows a real sophistication on the part of the viewer,” Schwartz said.
While I am a huge fan of the show, and understand that people want to do whatever they can to feel like they’re making a difference, fan campaigns don’t usually work out. The only notable recent exception is Jericho, and the results of that were such that I can’t imagine any network being moved by a fan campaign anytime soon. A million people could descend on Subway on Monday. Heck, I might myself. But I dont think it will make a difference.
40,000 of you showing up in the next 5 days to buy the Honda Insight that Chuck’s own Zachary Levi was the pitchman for during Monday’s episode of Chuck on the other hand…
Don’t got money for a honda, but got money for a subway. Will get a chicken teriyaki in honour of the fallen big mike.
I don’t think it could hurt. The idea has certainly picked up steam with the critics. Better than sending the suits roadkill.
if it gets Subway to lean on NBC or promise money for chuck or other nbc shows it could help i guess… subway has a lot of $$$ and they sponsor Biggest Loser too or they used to. It could be cool if subway saved chuck.
Buying Subways may not save Chuck but we will have fun trying. I hope all the fans remember to have fun with the all the save Chuck efforts & still enjoy the last episode next week.
Chuck’s mom, I am all for having fun, and enjoying the episode. the sub sounds good, too.
At first I thought the girl was sarah, but definitely not. Sarah kicks the ass out of that girl figuratively and literally.
Also, Mr. Seidman, You mentioned twitter in the title but not the body of the article, what is happening with regards to chuck and twitter?
click the link to the LA Times story…
Theres a typo in that LA Times article says
“audience can keep the sci-fi/romantic dramedy alive for a second season.”
Think he means third season.
Schwartz’s comment, or lack thereof, tells me NBC an Warner Brothers are talking numbers and he does not want to upset anyone. Maybe I’m just being overly optimistic, but I guess that’s the fan in me coming through. We also enjoy Subway so it’s a no lose situation on Monday.
It is a valiant effort but I am more confident in NBC renewing it for other reasons than fan response. I am going to buy a Subways sandwich anyway because I enjoy their product and will support whatever the fans are doing. Maybe this Twitter thing will take off over the next few days and surprise everyone. We can dream.
Subway is like Taco Bell. It’s filler. Not necessarily GOOD filler but not awful either. I don’t watch “Chuck” so I’ll pass.
It’s actually a decent idea.
I have no clue how $5 footlongs will save Chuck, but knock your socks off everyone. I’m pretty sure ad rates are decided in advance and that Subway uses a set budget for advertising on NBC. Plus there’s the problem of how even 100,000 Chuck fans wouldn’t be able to make a blip in their daily sales figures. They’re too big of a company.
They’d have done better to hook up with Quiznos, which at least has acknowledged that factory meat “farming” might not be all that groovy after all.
send nbc you iphones as a way showing support for chuck, any real fan would
Bwahahaha, if every TSCC fan bought a Dodge Ram, I bet TSCC would be back!
Of course, that would only speed up global warming…
Damn good reason for Skynet to nuke the world – bring on nuclear winter…LOL
Or, send Jesse your iPhones and he’ll send them to NBC. I really will. Scout’s honor.
I like the idea, but as someone said, unless an AWFUL lot of people go and buy a sub, it probably won’t register.
Subway parties!!! Get your friends over, and go to subway for dinner. Just remember the wraps have more fat than the bread, if less carbs, and the wheat bread has more calories than the white bread!
But it still tastes very nice.
TSCC fans buying massively overpriced Dodge Rams? LOL! Ok, thats funny.
The Jericho results pretty much insured that fan stunts wont matter for a long long time. If Chuck survives, it will only be because NBC has nothing they think will do better to put in its place AND can cut the budget enough to make it worthwhile financially. Direct TV wont save it either. They are blowing enough money keeping Friday Night Lights on life support with its mini seasons.
Even if an awful lot of people (like all six million who watch) buy subs, I’m not quite sure how this could ever work. I mean, NBC doesn’t get more money from one advertiser getting extra sales. And I don’t know that that one advertiser could really save any show that the network had decided was canceled. The real question is how many subs does Subway sell everyday anyway. Would a million (or six million) more even be significant?
Let’s estimate that for every $5 footlong Subway sells, they make $3 profit.
Let’s estimate that Chuck fans buy 400,000 (totally pulling this out of my ass, I figure ) footlongs next Monday.
That represents a spike of $1.2M to Subway. Not huge given the size of the company, but still noticeable and probably enough to offset most of their advertising commitment to Chuck. Certainly enough for Subway’s marketing group to put a few calls in directly to NBC decisionmakers and lend their support.
This is the worst “save our show” campaign yet. As others have pointed out, how exactly is anyone going to tie people going to Subway and buying subs to a plea for renewal? Are people going to go to their closest Subway and say “I’m here to save Chuck!”??? The people behind the counter will look at them like they are crazy as they ask them if they want it toasted. It isn’t like Subway is participating in this and each individual location is reporting up the chain on how many “Chuck” fans they have in the store.
Now, if everyone sends their $5 footlongs to NBC, then this makes sense…. Not sure they’ll get the desired effect by the time it gets there and opened, but…
I never even thought to go eat at Applebees when FNL was in danger… Can anyone imagine? Your waiter/waitress arrives at the table and you go “Just to let you know, I really want Friday Night Lights to be renewed… can you please let someone know?”
But that assumes that Subway would
(a) Put the spike down to Chuck
(b) Believe Chuck was the only way to get said spike
(c) Care enough about a one time spike to care about Chuck’s future
(d) That the spike would be enough to up their financial commitment to advertising with the show
It would have to be a sizable and sustained/weekly increase for Subway to really care about Chuck’s future and the ship has sailed on that option now. My guess is if Subway were to say they liked the deal and wanted to renew it NBC would just sell them on another show if they didn’t want to bring Chuck back.
Brandon says:
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:24 am This is the worst “save our show” campaign yet. As others have pointed out, how exactly is anyone going to tie people going to Subway and buying subs to a plea for renewal? Are people going to go to their closest Subway and say “I’m here to save Chuck!”??? The people behind the counter will look at them like they are crazy as they ask them if they want it toasted. It isn’t like Subway is participating in this and each individual location is reporting up the chain on how many “Chuck” fans they have in the store.
Actually, I think they are. Given the shameful product placement of the $5 footlongs in two episodes recently, it’s safe to say that Subway would have no problem whatsoever with Chuck fans coming in next Monday night. They have comment cards to fill out (most likely just to get your email address), but you can also write to “save Chuck” on them. The increase in revenue for Monday, if that happens, will be a sure indicator to them they may have found a show with a good advertising stream that will generate revenue for them.
Now whether this will make a huge difference in the span of a week, as NBC’s upfronts are 8 days after the episode, that’s another story.
Realistically, I don’t think the $5 footlongs will save the show, but I’m participating anyway. Like someone else said, it’s fun. And I love Subway. Seeing as fan campaigns generally don’t work, I can’t think of a more delicious way to delude myself. Just to be clear, though, I still have hope that the show will be renewed – just for other reasons.
Patrick Murphy – Do most Subways really have comment cards? I’ve been looking around in the last few I’ve been to and they don’t, at least not out on display.
This is definitely one of the more fun for the sake of fun fan campaigns that I’ve seen. I mean, you’re actually getting something out of it — a sandwich! Rather than buying peanuts that you just send to some network exec.
@Brandon, the campaign isn’t *just* to buy footlongs. It also involves writing to NBC brass and to Subway’s CMO telling of your intention/participation to take part in the one-day rush as well as possibly including the receipt.
On a related note as Save Our Show campaigns go I think this is probably one of the more potentially effective ideas (at least if its enacted before the week before the season finale). ‘Targeting’ advertisers who have deals specifically with your show and have a noticeable degree of product placement during your show is I would think endlessly more effective than on line petitions, letter/email campaigns and things of that ilk. I still don’t think it would be particularly effective but its better than the usual routes taken at least.
This isn’t really about recouping commercial costs for Subway. They don’t air commercials during the show. Basically, Subway has been featured prominently DURING several of the episodes, not during commercials. Subway sandwiches are a favorite of the Buy More workers, and two weeks ago they actually revolved a part of the secondary plot around the store manager eating one. This is mega product placement on a show, but the setting of the show allows the writers a way of inserting the products without making it annoying.
So basically what this is, is an effort by fans to communicate with NBC in a positive way that supports their efforts to make money with product placement, not by sending them annoying trinkets. The fans may not make a huge dent in increasing Subway sales, but its the message it sends I think that is important. As Alan Sepinwall of the NJ Star-Ledger mentions in his Save Chuck letter to NBC:
“Product integration. It’s more necessary than ever, as you try to make money while more and more viewers are using their DVRs to skip commercials. And few shows on your air are better-served to shill for the sponsors than “Chuck.”"
The people buying sandwiches are not going to tell anyone in the store why they’re there. They’re supposed to email or write to Subway, or leave a comment card at the store and tell them why they are buying Subway sandwiches.
Its wild to think that this campaign started with just one fan, someone who posts on a fan forum. They wanted to try to see if there was any way to help the show. And now less than a week later the show creator is talking about the campaign and news stories are being written about it. I’d say that’s pretty impressive, regardless if it works or not.
This is mega product placement on a show, but the setting of the show allows the writers a way of inserting the products without making it annoying.
I disagree, it was annoying. It was OK the first couple of times (I rolled my eyes, but kind of laughed too), but it quickly became obnoxious when the $5 deal was mentioned in every episode.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against all product placements in adult programming (I do have some questions and issues with kids programming). I think Dannon should make a deal with the Burn Notice people to supply Michael with Dannon Yogurt. I just don’t think the name and benefits of Dannon should be mentioned in every episode (if at all). The presence of name-brand products and even the occasional mention of the name is OK, putting full commercials within the show is not.
FrankJ makes a great point. Subway is getting some pretty nice residual advertising from this campaign, not only in the LA Times but I believe EW’s Michael Ausiello mentioned it a week or two ago and perhaps other columnists have mentioned it as well. Plus, the Finale and Footlong slogan is on a dozen or more fan sites. If the show’s creators are aware of the campaign, then certainly Subway execs and NBC execs are, too. Subway should be pleased. I’m not sure it will have an impact in saving Chuck, but it gives fans something to do other than wringing our hands…put a sandwich in it.
Whether this Subway stunt matters in the actual business of show-saving is a separate issue from whether the perception of said stunt draws the attention of the very few people who, ultimate, say “renew” or “cancel.” If Chuck is genuine on the bubble, then execs are genuinely undecided what to do at this point. If these execs are driven by numbers and numbers alone, then 6 million or so Subway purchases would make zero difference. If “feel-good” vibes (fan loyalty, positive feedback from sponsors, etc…) play any role in the final decision, then a well executed Subway rush would have some impact.
I admire the Chuck fans’ creativity and the fun apporoach to this little campaign. The show is hovering right around 1.0 on the index, too, so keep hope alive, dear Chuck fans!
@Holly
The last few references to Subway in Chuck have been obvious tongue-in-cheek blatant and purposeful placement. They knew full-well what they were doing and are having fun with it.
I still find the product placement funny. In a clip for next week I saw, Chuck tells Awesome he got the Toyota washed for him, which is obvious product placement because it sounds more natural to just tell someone you got their car washed, but I don’t mind it. Now, if the Buy More suddenly became Best Buy and Large Mart became Wal-Mart, THEN I would start to mind. But I’m fine with current product placements.
There’s something else to consider too, this show has had other products all over it. This isn’t just about Subway.
Call of Duty 4 had HUGE product placement in the Buy More plot last season and in the premiere of this season. It was actually instrumental in the A-plot–and it was funny too. They’ve promoted Toyota as a Nerd Herd car. The Apple iPhone is a huge prop for all the cell phone conversations, large screenshots to show who’s calling, their comic poses (Casey’s number comes up on Chuck’s iPhone, and Casey’s avatar is a photo of Casey about to punch Chuck for taking his picture). The iPhone is also used as a prop when Chuck gets kidnapped or chained up (trying to “use the Force” to reach his iPhone), along with his Casio locator watch. This show is uniquely suited for product placement, beyond any other show I’ve seen.
See, the phone placement, while rather obvious, doesn’t bother me. They aren’t talking about cool new aps you can get from the ap store or the great features of the phone, they just use them. The cars don’t bother me because they have to drive cars and again, they don’t mention features like milage, cargo space, etc. They just drive the cars. I didn’t realize the video game they were talking about was real. They could have used any real or fictional “war” video game and it wouldn’t have affected the plot.
Having the characters drive a specific car, use certain phones and computers, eat a certain food, etc. (even with close-ups on the product and logo) doesn’t bother me. Having the characters deliver lines from the commercials, does.
Heather says:
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:42 am
Patrick Murphy – Do most Subways really have comment cards? I’ve been looking around in the last few I’ve been to and they don’t, at least not out on display.
They’re supposed to. Whether a particular one actually does is another story entirely. Hell, if I worked in that Domino’s in North Carolina with those two disgusting workers, I might be hiding the comment cards myself.
I can only assume emailing will work as well. The big test will be if Subway actually had a sales increase for the 27th or not.
i doubt we will ever know…
wait a sec, i think alex said something positive regarding chuck fans actions!!! he must be becoming delusional =p
This sudway thing won’t have any effect on any decision but whatever fans can do what they want.
Holly says:
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:10 am
This is mega product placement on a show, but the setting of the show allows the writers a way of inserting the products without making it annoying.
I disagree, it was annoying. It was OK the first couple of times (I rolled my eyes, but kind of laughed too), but it quickly became obnoxious when the $5 deal was mentioned in every episode.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against all product placements in adult programming (I do have some questions and issues with kids programming). I think Dannon should make a deal with the Burn Notice people to supply Michael with Dannon Yogurt. I just don’t think the name and benefits of Dannon should be mentioned in every episode (if at all). The presence of name-brand products and even the occasional mention of the name is OK, putting full commercials within the show is not.
Agree 1000% there. The Subway plugs went beyond the standard “product placement” deal. The iPhone I can see because it’s a popular item, not to mention it’s a lot easier to see a picture Caller ID on it. The Nerd Herd car is a Toyota Yaris, which is a very inexpensive car. It’s not as if they’re driving a Prius or a Lexus SUV around or anything. But when Morgan walks into Big Mike’s office with a $5 footlong and Mike waxes poetic over the sweet and sour teriyaki taste (holy crap, I’m doing it myself!), that goes over the line of annoying.
“The people buying sandwiches are not going to tell anyone in the store why they’re there. They’re supposed to email or write to Subway, or leave a comment card at the store and tell them why they are buying Subway sandwiches.”
So, it’s a letter writing campaign? Really, this is just silly. Pick any “real” advertiser for Chuck and write THEM a letter telling them you saw their commerical on Chuck and remember it. I highly doubt Subway is buttering NBC’s bread here. If the production is getting a monetary kickback (and not just free catering), great – it helps keep costs down. Does this product placement change how much NBC pays for the show? Probably not.
I’m sure advertisers will love that the fan support is behind in-show product placement while the actual ads paid to NBC are ignored completely.
i find it funny with big mike, it was a little odd on the bechlor party… but mayby it’s just me… and nerd herder is toyota matrix i think, it was toyota yaris in season one…
and if it comes to games and iPhones and even cars it’s easy too put them on the show but subway footlong isn’t that obvious
“I’m sure advertisers will love that the fan support is behind in-show product placement while the actual ads paid to NBC are ignored completely.”
I wouldn’t say they are being ignored completely and even before the product placement within the show I remember seeing a Subway in store ad campaign featuring Chuck. I doubt this fan campaign will have any effect on Chuck’s renewal chances but I think it even less likely that it will have some sort of negative consequence that you seem to be implying. Seriously, you are complaining about a fan campaign that is about purchasing items advertised by the tv show. I have trouble seeing how that is going to piss other advertisers of the show off.
I don’t mind all the product placements. Chuck is a fun, light-hearted show and the product placements is just hilarious at times. If 24 (who has pimped Cisco Telecommunications on several occasions)tried to pull what Chuck pulls, then that would be a glaring distraction due to the serious tone of the show.
Heck, 30 Rock has product placements all the time and even repeats the product’s slogan – although in a mockingly way.
I’m going to buy a Subway sub for Chuck on Monday!!
They’ve had several Subway subs in Chuck and they have become more obvious each time, so I think they are actually trying to make them funny like 30 rock. I think it would be pretty funny to see how they could work a sub sandwich into various scenarios for several episodes, not too long, but just enough to see how far they could stretch it as a running joke.
The ultimate will be for Big Mike to go manage a Subway, it’s either that or they should really get a donut sponsor for the show.
You bring up a good point, Hamlin, about 30 Rock. Sepinwall mentioned that in his letter as well, about how 30 Rock has blatant product placements, but tends to mock the products. Chuck does not do that. Maybe the idea of the product placement and repeating slogans turns some people off, but you can’t say the show bashes the products. And I’m sure advertisers appreciate that more. Also, the fact that most of the fanbase is speaking positively of Subway and their affiliation, simply because of the product placement–that kind of positive press is a marketing dream for most companies.
The best product placement for Toyota was in last episode of the Jill arc, before he traps her in the Nerd Herder.
Something like “Jill! This is the perfect getaway car! It’s got ___ engine, great gas mileage, great nav system, blah blah blah blah”
Author seems to forget about La Femme Nikita, which after a massive fan campaign was brought back for an extra half-season after its planned conclusion.
Haha..ZebZ, you’re right! I remember that. I think he even said “You’re taking the Matrix.” before he said “It’s the perfect getaway car.” Too bad all cars don’t have the kind of anti-theft feature it had though. I bet people would buy it!
None of you commenting negatively must be in the advertising business. This is absolutely huge for Subway and massive for Warner. There hope is 1 out of every 20 people who see a commercial even remember it later! Product placement is a tough nut to crack. If you can prove it’s truly working the rates on product placement are much higher than commercials. The reason being: people aren’t skipping past product placements. Product placements rarely make an impact at all, and it’s nearly impossible to prove it came from a show. You have to go back to SEINFELD when Cheerios became Seinfeld’s favorite cereal (and he made mention they were his favorite) to when a show’s product placement was actually believed to be the reason behind a sales spike. So this would obviously prove that the campy subway references worked.
The show is in trouble right now because NBC wants a certain price, and Warner has to drop down that low (and they should). NBC is being cheap (and they should). I figured Josh would have an answer after Vegas (and guessed as much in a reply last night) and the fact that he can’t say they’re renewed only strengthens my belief right now this is all about money. NBC is throwing the “we don’t really have the time slot right now, but maybe we could switch it with something else if the price was right,” idea probably at them full strength.
It has got to be tough right now, and I’m sure NBC needs to keep CHUCK as at least a midseason replacement if another show fails (or Leno fails). So right now it’s all about what Warner can offer the show for. So the Subway campaign is a smart one. Of course Subway is going to have to see a spike greater than 300,000 extra footlongs sold that day (and hear about it).
The idea too that JERICHO some how ruined it for all fans trying to get a show renewed is preposterous. If a show is truly on the bubble and fan support gets it back there is no reason to believe that JERICHO’s fate will happen again. You people seem to ignore how often fan support has brought back shows and how it hasn’t meant certain death for all them at all. JERICHO received a lot of hype, and that was Tassler’s plan. It backfired on her.
That campaign was like in 2000 for episodes that aired in early 2001. I don’t consider something that happened more than 8 years ago to be recent.
This is a nice idea, and I’ll definitely buy a sub for dinner monday just in case it DOES make a difference…but I think a BETTER plan would be for all the fans to go buy the season 1 DVD (even if they already have it) or pre-order season 2 …that would register MUCH more with the execs. I mean I would go buy the DVD again AND pre-order season 2 if it meant another season of Chuck!
But yeah…count me in for 2 footlong subs Monday! My friend and I will eat them as we enjoy the season finale of our favorite show! If nothing comes out of it…at least we got an inexpensive dinner…and if SOMETHING comes out of it. GREAT!
Jenna, you mean you haven’t done that already?
I own two sets of S1. One for me, one to loan out. I wait a week, then get word back that they are hooked and MUST know where they can watch S2. lol!
Jenna, the Subway idea is the best idea, because they really want CHUCK to show product placement is a way to make money in today’s world where commercial viewing is dropping. NBC asked them to do the “commercial within a show,” and so far we’ve seen Pepsi on SNL, I forget the product on 30 Rock (obviously I wasn’t 1 out of 20), and Subway on CHUCK.
It’s NBC’s way of finding an answer much like FOX is doing this season with REMOTE FREE TV.
Robert, I think campaigns that aren’t “hyped,” work. Hyped campaigns are just a set up for disappointment. CBS was going to bring back JERICHO, hyped the peanut campaign and it flopped making them look stupid. Hyping the campaigns isn’t smart. The quiet “buy dvds, send a nice letter,” campaigns can work, but they won’t be hyped up.
I’m actually quite interested to see the results of this fan strategy, both what happens at Subway *and* what effect it’s reported to have on the process. Unlike just about everything else crazy fans have done in the past, it makes at least some sense to me.
I just got myself a foot long meatball sub and it was good. I will also buy a sub on Monday and save it until I was the season not series episode of Chuck!
Robert, do you think after all of this, NBC will make us wait until May 5th to know what happens to Chuck? The show is over, all the rating are over for Chuck, why not throw a bone to all the Chuck fans
Whether this works for Chuck remains to be seen. I think, however, that this may be a big part of TV future. We start watching TV 20 minutes late for our shows to skip the commercials. DVRs have to be killing advertising. Advertising in a show is not easily avoided, and hence, where it works, it will be critical to a show’s success.
Nick C said: “Jenna, the Subway idea is the best idea, because they really want CHUCK to show product placement is a way to make money in today’s world where commercial viewing is dropping. NBC asked them to do the “commercial within a show,” and so far we’ve seen Pepsi on SNL, I forget the product on 30 Rock (obviously I wasn’t 1 out of 20), and Subway on CHUCK.
It’s NBC’s way of finding an answer much like FOX is doing this season with REMOTE FREE TV.”
I know Nick C…It IS a good idea and as I said I’m going to participate. I just threw an additional idea out there, that’s all. I will be doing both! And FrankJ…no I don’t already have 2 copies of season 1 LOL, but I WILL! I have 1 copy of the Season 1 DVD, and a season pass to season 2 on itunes at the moment.
I can’t afford a new Honda right now, but I can definitely buy a Subway sandwich.
In fact, there’s a Subway right next to where I work.
would they ever bring Chuck back for a summer show?
I think that this could have a very positive affect on the show’s future. If company X, buys Ad space for their product I am sure that the actual benefit derived from the placement is small, but obviously worth the cost they are charged. I mean how many people see an ad for some product and go out and purchase it. So now this same company, in this example Subway, will actually see a larger return specifically because of that cost. Sure it might not be large in the whole bucket, but it should be substantial enough for them.
I will be purchasing my Sub on Monday!
if this works, I hope they’ll replace Jared as the spokesperson with Lester!
Since this is TV by Numbers, I decided to play around with some numbers to show how this is a good campaign.
Last week Chuck had viewers of 6.212m (TVBN). According to an AdAge article published last year (2007), the average cost for a 30sec Chuck commercial was 108k. Subway needs to make at least 108k to breakeven. The only data I couldn’t really find a hard answer on was their profit margin (figures ranged from 15% to 40%), but going conservatively lets assume a 15% profit margin on a 5$ foot long, which comes out to 0.75$. 108k/0.75$ tells us that Subway needs to sell an additional 144,000 Subs to breakeven. That means that 2.32% of the viewers need to purchase Subs. However, lets say an additional 15,000 purchase Subs; then they have sold 159,000 when they only paid to sell 144,000. This translates (using the 2.32%) as reaching a viewing audience of 6.859m people.
Now, I think that I was conservative on most of my numbers. Lets assume since viewership has dropped off since last year that NBC is only charging $75,000 for a 30 sec commercial and that the profit margin on the Subs is 40%. Then Subway only needs to sell 37,500 to break even, but they still end up selling 15,000 additional which equals 52,500 which translates into a viewing audience of 8.696m people. Now, I tried to find the best data that I could so any more accurate data would be helpful. But, this is why I support this action and will be buying a foot long.
I will be buying a footlong on Monday as well!! SAVE CHUCK!!
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/04/save-chuck-camp.html
thats weird because i just had subway, last MONDAY
crazy huh
CHUCK VS ADVERTISING SPOKESPERSON WORLD
Lester- Spokesperson for Subway
Jeff- Spokesperson for Wild Turkey
Morgan- Spokesperson for Paul Mitchell Hair Gels
Casey- Spokesperson for America Rifle Association
Sarah- Spokesperson for Miss Universe
Big Mike- Spokesperson for Sarah Lee
Awesome – Spokesperson for Ken Doll
Nick C.- Spokesperson for all things Television
Holy crap this needs to stop. After all this Chuck overkill, i don’t want it renewed. YES ITS A GOOD SHOW. But its not the AMAZING television that everyone makes it out to be. If anything Pushing Daisies deserves a better chance to come back than Chuck
The Subway campaign is now on Time.com. This is really impressive that’s its gotten so far so fast.
http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/04/23/saving-chuck-dont-applaud-throw-money/
I really think it’s going to come down to this Monday’s episode as far as renewel. All this press the show is getting this week is great, and I def plan on buying a footlong (that’s what she said), but if it doesn’t increase to a number NBC is happy with I think it’s gone.
I think even the folks that run the official Chuck site know, there’s a banner right on the homepage “If you love chuck, show your support by watching monday.” Granted I don’t visit too many tv shows official websites but I find it kind of odd to see a message like that and would think it would usually say something like watch the season finale monday.
Obviously the past two weeks promotion has gained awareness but it needs to translate to viewers. I think the subway thing is pretty valid, but buying the shows on itunes or dvd or blu ray is just as valid. Like lots of people here have already said before me, it’s all about the profit.
yum,yum,yum,i like it!! subway from france.
http://scoopea.com/Television/Will_5_footlongs_and_Twitter_be_the_salvation_of_Chuck
Well, if this doesn’t work, I’m sure there will be another cult hit bubble show next season that fans will be making all sorts of campaigns to save
i love subway
Shea, does somebody out a gun to your head and force you to come on here or support Chuck ? No so stop being a drama queen. Don’t like it than simply don’t read Chuck articles.
I think Chuck will survive regardless of any fan efforts or Subway. Bunch of hoop la over nothing and NBC is not quieting the masses because it provides the opportunity to provide some good buzz.
I agree with Ropposp. LETS GO CHUCK EVERYONE GO TO SUBWAY ON MONDAY
Ropposp you might be right. I have considered the possibility that they are planning to renew it, but are making things look much worse because it is creating buzz. If the show had already been announced as returning, all these articles about saving Chuck and talking about what a great show it is wouldn’t be circulating. That’s possible. It’s like free advertising for them show. But I’ll be buying my sub monday in case that’s not the case!
Warning to the stars and hosts of successful shows on NBC (all 4 of you). If a C***k fan sends you a Subway sandwich, DO NOT EAT IT! I repeat, DO NOT EAT IT! They’ve been POISONED! Jay Leno was first — YOU could be next!!
I wish i could do more to help chuck survive.
Would really hurt if suck a great show would stop while others (which are extremely lame) stay.
chuck may not have rating, but its only because ppl stop watching NBC coz all their other shows just arent worth it
Quoting FrankJ: “Its wild to think that this campaign started with just one fan, someone who posts on a fan forum. They wanted to try to see if there was any way to help the show. And now less than a week later the show creator is talking about the campaign and news stories are being written about it. I’d say that’s pretty impressive, regardless if it works or not.”
Here’s the birth of it: http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=3159109&view=findpost&p=11591881
The big picture of the idea is that the way people watch shows today has actually made a dent in the belief that the ratings are the only important factor when deciding how to spend advertising money. By hitting a sponsor rather than the network executives, the fans are demonstrating that Chuck fans are actually paying attention to the supporters of the show. It could have been any sponsor, but as you see from the link, she hit on the perfect one. The in-show product placements from Subway won’t be missed by the Hulu viewers, and probably won’t be skipped by the DVR viewers. Therefore, the fans are demonstrating that we SAW the advertisements, we LIKED the advertisements, and WILL CONTINUE to do so with future advertisements on Chuck.
This is the sort of thing that gets advertisers to pay attention, (not just Subway) and when advertisers pay attention to a show, you better believe the network hears the cash register sounds ringing through the halls.