Subway® has partnered with Bournemouth 7s, the three-day festival often described as the ‘sporting Glastonbury’, as part of its Fresh Moves programme to promote physical activity and support up-and-coming sports.

To amplify the partnership, Subway® tasked Circle Agency, its brand experience agency of record, with a brief to design and deliver fun sport competitions that get delicious subs into the hands of sports fans while increasing brand love and acquisitions for the Subway Rewards® app.

Taking place in Christchurch between Friday 22 and Sunday 24 May, Circle Agency designed all activations to dovetail with the festival’s reputation for being fun, young and sporty. Hence the 2026 Sports Village will see the introduction of the ‘Subtopia Games’. This competition comprises the Subway Sauce Squeeze, a grip strength competition; the Sub-spending challenge, a long-hanging endurance game; and the Footlong Leap, a vertical jump test. Participants’ results across all three challenges will be recorded on an online leaderboard, with the overall Subtopia King and Queen being revealed on Sunday afternoon.

As Subway has exclusive sponsorship of one of the event’s highlights, Saturday’s Dodge Ball game which sees teams compete while wearing fancy dress linked to this year’s theme of ‘Far Far Away’, Circle Agency also designed an olde worlde tug of war competition. In keeping with the 2026 theme, all art direction includes fairytale touches like castles, shields, fire torches, scrolls and phoenixes.

Subway will additionally have a presence backstage with artist product placement in the form of Subway platters and cookies boxes, plus VIP camper goodie bags containing branded eye-masks and earplugs to ensure festivalgoers get a great night’s sleep and stay on their A-game.

This year’s activation reflects a longer-term, data-driven shift in Subway and Circle Agency’s approach. Years of partnership data show that events where audiences are in the right mindset, relaxed, engaged and spending real time with the brand, consistently deliver strong results, including NPS gains. That insight has shaped a more event-led strategy this year, with Bournemouth 7s offering an ideal fit: an audience whose passion points around sport, friendly competition and music create exactly the kind of environment where great brand experiences thrive.

Subway’s Campaign Marketing Manager, Indy Flora, said,: “This year, we want to have a bigger presence at festivals. As soon as Circle suggested Bournemouth 7s, we knew it would be a perfect fit with our Fresh Moves initiative. Their fun games, like the Subway Sauce Squeeze, absolutely nail our brief of providing engaging experiences that increase acquisitions.”

Circle Agency’s Account Lead, Ella Bell, added, “Bournemouth 7s attracts an audience who opt into having fun, trying new things and being part of something bigger, and the Subtopia Games were built to match that energy. Every element was crafted with purpose: competitive, playful and shareable in equal measure, designed to enable festival-goers to connect with Subway and maximise every moment of engagement.”