7-eleven: SLURPEE UNITY TOUR

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Guerilla Marketing in a Promotional Campaign

Advertiser: 7-ELEVEN

Product/Service: DRINK

Agency: TRACYLOCKE

Agency: INTEGER

Date of First Appearance: Nov 5 2010

Entrant Company: FRESHWORKS, Dallas, USA

Entry URL: http://www.facebook.com/Slurpee?sk=app_2392950137

Chief Operating Officer: Sandi Means (Freshworks)

Chief Creative Officer: Regan Holley (TracyLocke)

Client Services Director: Sterling Hayman (TracyLocke)

Group Creative Director: Kyle Jones (TracyLocke)

Creative Director: Ryan Blum (TracyLocke)

Associate Creative Director: Craig Bradley (TracyLocke)

Art Director: Tyler Kitchens (TracyLocke)

Copywriter: Alex Harvey (TracyLocke)

Art Director: Kyle Zamzow (TracyLocke)

Digital Account Supervisor: Brittney Schaeffer (Integer)

Group Account Director: Sean Dorminy (Integer)

Associate Creative Director: Caleb Wills (Integer)

Associate Director: James Peters (Ketchum)

Account Supervisor: Stephanie Shaw (Ketchum)

Account Supervisor: Sherrie Crow (TPN)

Group Creative Director: Jeff Zimm (TPN)

Senior Account Executive: Emily Witmore (TracyLocke)

Senior Account Executive: Holland Hughey (TracyLocke)

Director of Digital: Jorg Deckerhibbel (Integer)

Media placement: Social Media - Facebook - November 5, 2010

Media placement: Print - Washington Post - November 5, 2010

Media placement: Event - Slurpee Summit With Blues Traveler Concert - November 18, 2010



Describe the objective of the promotion.

• Leverage the President’s spontaneous endorsement of Slurpee for intense national attention.

• Reinforce Slurpee as an American icon: now the brand that brings Americans together.

• Own the moment.



Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation.

“I might serve Slurpees. They’re delicious drinks. The Slurpee Summit. I like that.”

Barack Obama, Nov. 4, 2010.



When the President of the United States hands you a product endorsement, you take it and run. The President put Slurpee on the table. 7-Eleven served it up. Fast.



Within 48 hours, 7-Eleven and Slurpee had a new flavor, a 14-city Unity Tour crossing the country toward the White House; Facebook, Twitter, bloggers, national, local and online press all abuzz over the Slurpee Summit.



Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service.

The day after the divisive mid-term elections, President Obama offered an olive branch to Congress, joking with reporters about hosting a Slurpee Summit at the White House with incoming Republican leader John Boehner. Could Slurpee heal the partisan divide? Suddenly, the President himself helped position Slurpee as an American favourite, a lighthearted solution to polarising politics. Such spontaneous product endorsement is a rare gift.



In the 24-hour news cycle, attention shifts quickly. 7-Eleven had to seize the moment, and in the right spirit. Slurpee had captured the American zeitgeist; social media would help fan the flame.



Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results.

$5.6 million in earned-media coverage.



1.6 BILLION media impressions.



1,851 media mentions.



Coverage by ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX, NY Times, LA Times, Huffington Post, The Daily Show, Washington Examiner.



700,000 new Facebook fans in 2 weeks.



“Let’s hope the President will be willing to work with us, then we can all go get Slurpees together."

John Boehner



“I don't think you can just hear the word Slurpee and not smile. Because, regardless of your age, everybody has had a Slurpee. It’s so simple that it’s genius.”

O Magazine editor-at-large & host of Sirius XM’s Gayle King Show.