DALLAS -- 7-Eleven Inc. has chosen Omnicom Group to handle integrated marketing communications, including advertising, promotions and point-of-purchase (POP). Omnicom subsidiaries Tracy Locke, TPN, Dieste Harmel & Partners and The Integer Group have formed FreshWorks, a virtual agency specifically designed to service the 7-Eleven business. The agreement will be effective in September.
They essentially assembled a cluster of agencies managed by a single account team that presents one face to us and ensures complete integration and quality control," [image-nocss] said Doug Foster, vice president of marketing for 7-Eleven.
The agency review process began with an integrated review for a single-solution provider team. Besides Omnicom, finalists included WPP Partners and Interpublic Group.
The new FreshWorks entity will support 7-Eleven as its only client. Responsibilities will include providing strategic counsel, consumer insight and creative product to increase awareness and sales. 7-Eleven will look to the agency for concepts and production of its broadcast, print and outdoor advertising to promote the 7-Eleven brand and proprietary products such as the Slurpee frozen beverage, Big Gulp drinks and Big Eats Deli sandwiches.
Camelot Communications Inc. will continue to handle media buying.
It was Tracy Locke Advertising that branded the convenience store chain with the 7-Eleven name in 1946. With convenience stores operating under a variety of names like City Ice and Tote'm, the company needed a common name identification. Then-company president Joe C. Jodie Thompson Jr., son of company founder Joe C. Thompson, charged the agency with creating an identity for the 75-store chain. The name, 7-Eleven, reflected the store's hours of operations at that timefrom 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. As the company's first agency almost 60 years ago, Tracy Locke produced all newspaper, radio and point-of-sale (POS) advertising. The chain was the first convenience retailer to advertise on TV, in 1949.
The in-house agency created the slogan Oh Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven.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.