DALLAS -- To promote its new Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee drink this month, 7-Eleven Inc. has partnered with Coca-Cola, Activision Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in a marketing and public relations blitz designed to reach music-loving, videogame-playing, techno-savvy, 18- to 34-year-old males.
Online and radio contests, grassroots events and traveling street teams will call attention to 7-Eleven's promotion of Activision's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. The Guitar Hero videogame franchise has sold more than 14 million games worldwide since its introduction in 2005.
In an online contest [image-nocss] at www.slurpee.com, visitors can enter codes found on specially marked 22-oz. Guitar Hero-branded Slurpee cups for a chance to win a copy of the videogame, Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft, or Microsoft Points to purchase content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace. One copy of the game will be awarded every hour throughout the month of May, for a total of 744 games. In addition, 10 winners each will receive a prize package that includes an Xbox 360 console along with a copy of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Finally, more than 711,000 Microsoft Points will be awarded.
"The sweet spot of the core Slurpee customer is between 18 and 24 years old," said Jay Wilkins, brand manager for Slurpee and Big Gulp beverages. "Our goal is to keep Slurpee as cool today as it was to teens and young adults in the 1960s when it was first introduced."
Today, that means partnering with hit movies, videogames, popular music and extreme sports and reaching out to teens and young adults where they are, the company said, online and on the street. To that end, 7-Eleven has planned some nontraditional approaches to this promotion in addition to unconventional advertising:
Getting Ripped: Giant tearoff pads of posters featuring art from Guitar Hero and Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee will be posted at 484 outdoor locations near schools, transit stations, theaters, skate parks, beaches, etc., in eight major metropolitan areas: Baltimore-Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco-Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Boston and Austin. Mobile Screens: Media vans, each with a 6-by-12-foot video screen, will visit select 7-Eleven stores where visitors can play a version of Guitar Hero live. Pickin' Slurpee: More than 10,000 custom guitar picks printed with Full Throttle Frozen Blast on one side and the website address on the other will be distributed at special events. Hot Off the Press: College students still read newspapers. Full-color ads including Slurpee coupons will run in 21 college and university newspapers in 7-Eleven major markets: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Denver, Phoenix, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. Slurpee Nation: A revamped Slurpee website is the hub of all the activities, including featured contests, Slurpee trivia games and information on upcoming special events. Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., Activision is a developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.