We’re about to see.

Selected locations of Subway restaurants in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota just launched the Big Sell Out [www.subwayrewards.com].

We’re asking people to share the email addresses of five of their friends, who must be in the local area.

In return, we email them a coupon for $2 off a Big Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and register them to win two prime seats at the Bison football homecoming game.

The game is nearly sold out; Tickets are a hot item. This sandwich is a premium offering and this is an aggressive coupon offer.

We think it’s an ideal combination to drive sales and capture viable new email addresses for future promotions.

Referral programs have been around in many forms for decades. More recently, digital-based referral programs have had mixed results.

Burger King created a Facebook application asking users to sacrifice 10 friends in exchange for a coupon for a free sandwich. The campaign, which boasted of ending 234,000 friendships, is history now — Burger King chose to end it rather than tweak it to fit Facebook’s policy.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is one of many, many companies that offer complimentary goods and services to those who share friends’ email addresses (the friends get the same perks) on an ongoing basis.

Considering our market, the offer and other details, we’ll see what a little friendly betrayal gets our client—and its customers.