"God of War III" won't hit shelves until March 16, but the marketing campaign begins this week. Starting Feb. 1, fans of the Greek mythology-based action game can head to 7-Eleven stores when the Kratos Fury Slurpee flavor, created by Mountain Dew and the convenience store chain, debuts. The blackberry-and-lime-flavored drink will also come with a choice of [image-nocss] four different "God of War" artwork cups.
The cups will give each Slurpee buyer a code that allows them to download a variety of content, including behind-the-scenes video of the making the game, an animated theme of Kratos' face, wallpaper for PCs and virtual items that unlock armor to use inside the game. Hanging neck tags on all Mountain Dew 2-liter and 20-ounce bottles will also include codes that can be redeemed at slurpee.com.
"7-Eleven's core target is the 18- to 34-year-old male who is right in the sweet spot for this game," said Ginger Kraus, senior director-marketing alliances, Sony Computer Entertainment America. "It's a great alternative marketing opportunity to reach that gamer."
The Kratos Slurpee promotion will also get marketing support on TV with a promotional tag on Mountain Dew spots running during the Winter Dew Tour on NBC, online banners and play on Facebook, as well as e-mail marketing to the Slurpee Nation, PlayStation and Mountain Dew communities.
PlayStation has been teasing the game, with previews and demos and clips for months, as well as doing pre-sales and promotions at retailers. However, the 7-Eleven promotion is the first "official promotional campaign" and foreshadows a much larger campaign coming in March.
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