According to Slurpee and Big Gulp brand manager Jay Wilkins, when it comes to Slurpee, flavor always comes first. Bottom line, if the product doesn't meet expectations, all the cool promotions in the world won't keep customers coming back, Wilkins said. So that's where we start, making [image-nocss] sure we deliver at the Slurpee machine.
Supporting Slurpee's 2008 summer flavor lineup requires a variety of communications efforts across the media spectrum to reach Slurpee drinkers, and not all of it through traditional outlets, the company said. That might mean rip-and-run tear-away posters in one city; playing giant videogames on a Slurpee van with a 6-by-12-foot side-panel screen at a 7-Eleven store in another; sampling Slurpee drinks on boardwalks and beaches; original Slurpee films on YouTube.com; and online contests to win videogames, game consoles and more.
This April, Paramount Studios' Iron Man, starring, Robert Downey Jr., began the warm-weather string of Slurpee promotions. The Incredible Hulk from Universal Studios followed in June. Besides 3-D cups with scenes lifted from each film and Slurpee straws with detachable characters, Marvel Comics created a special-edition Incredible Hulk comic book, available exclusively at 7-Eleven. Both movies' websites have links on www.slurpee.com. A 7-Eleven storefront appears in the movie and a life-size Hulk standup is positioned near Slurpee machines.
7-Eleven has street teams driving around select U.S. cities in "rock 'n' roll Slurpee-mobiles"; vehicles with giant video screens to play larger-than-life Guitar Hero games. Rock 'n' roll Never Sleeps is emblazoned on the side. Rip-and-run Guitar Hero-Full Throttle posters are posted at approximately 500 urban locations this month. Pads of 10 tearoff, weatherproof posters are strategically placed near schools, skate parks, sports arenas and stadiums.
As part of the web redesign of the Slurpee website, www.slurpee.com, the new "Slurpee Nation" community is being created where Slurpee-lovers can unite, chat, upload and download.
After the success of its two Halo videogame promotions in recent years, 7-Eleven partnered in May with Activision to promote Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. The videogame franchise has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide since its introduction in 2005. In an online instant-win contest, 7-Eleven gave away 744 Guitar Hero videogames (one every hour during May), Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles, plus 711,000 Microsoft Points to purchase merchandise from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.
Top-selling, 16-oz. Monster energy drink eschews traditional advertising and has built its brand through viral marketing and sponsorships of extreme athletes and music artists. The collectible cups, created for the exclusive Slurpee Monster flavor, Black Ice, will be 32-oz. with 3-D graphics of the Monster jagged claw logo and black dome lids. Monster's graphics team was able to create a special M claw logo that suggests the "icy coldness" of a Slurpee drink. It also features the first-ever aluminum Slurpee straws. The colorful tubes also have an extra-wide radius to ensure the fastest slurping, said 7-Eleven.
As part of its Monster campaign, the Slurpee drink will climb onto the Warped 2008 bandwagon. Sponsored by Vans shoes since 1995, the Warped tour is a multi-city series of music and extreme sports events targeted to teens. 7-Eleven is taking its new Slurpee Nation-mobile on the road at the Warped tour, serving samples of the new Monster Black Ice Slurpee drink, the first Monster Energy drink in frozen form, available in 7-Eleven stores July 1.
Slurpee is the title sponsor of the Uncommon Comedy Film contest, part of Samsung Mobile's Fresh Films teen film-maker project and the largest teen film program. The national filmmaking program allows winning teens to get behind the camera as directors and make either a comedy, drama or action/thriller film-short in seven days. Films premiere online and are judged by a celebrity jury and online viewers. The summer competition includes Slurpee machines on the film sets during shoots, coupons for online viewer-voters and maybe even a Slurpee sighting in the films.
In August, 7-Eleven will open up football season with a promotion in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Madden NFL Football videogames from EA Sports and the release of Madden NFL 09. 7-Eleven will offer a new first-of-its-kind Slurpee that month. A first for EA Sports and exclusive to 7-Eleven is an Xbox 360 playable demo DVD of the game available before its August 12 release date. The Madden NFL 09 demo, which also includes 60 minutes of NFL highlights, will be free with the purchase of a Madden Meal deal. Customers can pick up the videogame at 7-Eleven stores on August 12. Related merchandise available includes exclusive Donruss football trading cards with Madden player ratings, the Sports Illustrated Fantasy Football special edition and NFL Highlights DVDs, along with their Slurpee drinks in premium football-theme Slurpee cups at participating 7-Eleven stores. Online contests include grand-prize tickets to Super Bowl XLIII, tickets to the Madden Bowl and a tour of EA Sports' Tiburon studio near Orlando where Madden NFL games are developed. Other prizes include videogames and tickets to sporting events.
This summer, a Slurpee frozen beverage hits the big screen Times Square, appearing on the CBS Super Screen on 42nd Street. This is the first time 7-Eleven has advertised any of its products on the famous electronic billboard.
During spring break, Slurpee brand ambassadors cruised the beaches at Daytona with drink samples and prizes, giving away Slurpee Frisbees, beach balls, blankets, t-shirts and baseball caps. Activities included Slurpee sampling on pool decks during radio station remotes, Frisbee-throwing, bobbing for Slurpee and Brainfreeze contests.
This promises to be the biggest Slurpee season ever, Wilkins said. In our very first big promotion of the year, Iron Man cups sold out of the distribution centers serving U.S. 7-Eleven stores in the first two weeks. The Iron Man helmet mug was quickly offered on eBay at up to three times our suggested retail price. While we've created a summer of fun to appeal to teens and young adults, our core customers, we know Slurpee has cross-generational appeal. After all, Slurpee has been around more than 40 years, and has built its reputation by delivering flavor, fun and, of course, cool.
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.