SUBWAY® and Electus Announce the Development of SUBWAY® High School Heroes to Engage the High School Community in Recognizing Their Peer Heroes

NEW YORK, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Most heroes don't get noticed but they inspire people in small and large ways every day.  Perhaps there is no place where this is truer than in high schools across the country.  So today, SUBWAY®, along with Facebook and Electus, is helping high school students recognize the everyday heroes at their schools.

SUBWAY® and Ben Silverman's next generation multimedia studio Electus, an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), are announcing the launch of a collaborative venture called SUBWAY® High School Heroes. This first-of-its-kind social entertainment program and competition is centered on inspirational people in the high school community, including students and teachers. The 8-week-program launched via Facebook on Oct. 18, 2010, and users can now nominate and vote for their favorite heroes for a chance to be crowned SUBWAY®'s ultimate High School Hero by going to the SUBWAY® High School Heroes application at the Official SUBWAY® Facebook page at www.facebook.com/subway.

At its core, the question "What inspires you?" drives the concept behind SUBWAY® High School Heroes competition. Users are encouraged to nominate, share and vote for whomever they feel is the genuine hero in their high school communities. Whether that hero is their 16-year-old sister who volunteers everyday to mentor and tutor students struggling with math, or their high school English teacher who encouraged and helped them apply for college, SUBWAY® High School Heroes seeks to honor and celebrate the inspirational figures in every high school community.

"Whether they are winners on the field, in the classroom or in the community, we know that winners eat at SUBWAY®," said Tony Pace, chief marketing officer, SUBWAY® Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust. "The High School Heroes program helps to recognize those winners for the inspirational work they are doing."

"Electus and our creative partners Arthur Hasson and Dennis Ardi  are very excited to team up with Facebook and SUBWAY®, two brands driving the evolution of social media," said Ben Silverman, Founder and CEO of Electus. "Social media is transforming how consumers communicate and tell their own stories on a constant and shared basis. We are thrilled to build a franchise that can engage audiences in brand narrative and community empowerment and work with world class brands on a creative campaign designed to inspire and champion young people around the country."

Engagement with the participants starts with a Hero nomination. Anyone on Facebook can nominate a friend they think is inspirational in their high school community. Users will be able to upload and share videos, comment, and vote for their favorite heroes. The Facebook community will make the ultimate decision on the country's best and most inspiring heroes.  Finalists will be selected based on how many votes they receive. Everyone who interacts with SUBWAY® High School Heroes, including the heroes, nominators and voters, have a chance to win great prizes through regular drawings. The winning SUBWAY® High School Hero will be announced via Facebook Dec. 16, 2010, and will win a grand prize of $10,000 and an Apple iPad.  Visit the Official SUBWAY® Facebook page for complete details and to nominate heroes.

"On Facebook, we share and discover things all the time.  This is true for books we read, music we like and shoes we wear.  Why shouldn't this be true for the inspirational people in our lives?" said Matt Jacobson at Facebook.  "We're excited to be working on this project because it recognizes the everyday heroes that inspire the lives of high school students all over the country and helps them acknowledge the contributions these heroes make to their schools and communities."

Publicis Modem, SUBWAY®'s digital agency of record, helped further develop, manage and execute the High School Heroes program with Electus, led by its Branded Content & Entertainment team.

"Social engagement is playing an increasingly important role in how users consume content," said Gian LaVecchia, SVP Group Director Branded Content & Entertainment at Publicis Modem. "We think High School Heroes is uniquely positioned to leverage this trend to not only create an authentic point of connection for our audience, but also drive long-term affinity by creating an engaging social platform that celebrates real-life, everyday heroes."

About Electus

Electus is the first integrated multimedia company to unite producers, creators, advertisers and distributors under one roof and produce all forms of content for distribution across a variety of platforms around the world. Headed by Ben Silverman, in partnership with IAC, the company will connect advertisers, distributors and content creators early on in the development process, enabling marketers and advertisers to be a true partner in campaigns and content creation.

About IAC

IAC operates more than 50 leading and diversified Internet businesses across 30 countries... our mission is to harness the power of interactivity to make daily life easier and more productive for people all over the world. To view a full list of the companies of IAC please visit our website at www.iac.com.

About SUBWAY® Restaurants

The SUBWAY® restaurant chain is the world's largest submarine sandwich franchise, with more than 33,000 locations in 91 countries. Headquartered in Milford, Connecticut, and with regional offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Brisbane, Miami, and Singapore, the SUBWAY® chain was co-founded by Fred DeLuca and Dr. Peter Buck in 1965. The SUBWAY® brand was ranked the number one global franchise opportunity in Entrepreneur magazine's 2010 "Annual Franchise 500" listing for the 17th time in 23 years.  For more information about the SUBWAY® chain, visit www.subway.com and www.subwayfreshbuzz.com.  SUBWAY® is a registered trademark of Doctor's Associates Inc.

SOURCE IAC

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