Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. is ramping up its Slurpee season with the promotion of the May 2 release of “Iron Man,” a Marvel Comics superhero movie, the company said.
The month-long “Iron Man” campaign at 7-Eleven will offer customers four multi-image, 3-D Slurpee cups featuring film shots of Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr’s lead character, Tony Stark, in the Iron Man suits, as well as Iron Man’s nemesis, Iron Monger. The Slurpee flavor during the campaign is AMP Energy Freeze, a frozen version of Pepsi’s AMP Energy, which is sold exclusively at 7-Eleven.
The “Iron Man” movie cups will feature multiple frames from the movie to enhance the action effect, and the Iron Monger cup will have 24 actual frames from the “Iron Man” movie to create action-packed graphics, something 7-Eleven said it has never done before.
A collectible, refillable mug at the c-store will also feature the red-and-gold helmet from Iron Man’s Mark III suit of armor, while the company is also offering three Iron Man Slurpee spoon-straws with detachable Iron Man and Iron Monger figurines.
“Just as action movies keep creating new special effects and computer-generated graphics, our Slurpee cups, mugs and straws have to continually reach their own new heights of creativity,” said Jay Wilkins, 7-Eleven brand manager for the company‘s Slurpee and Big Gulp brands. “These are definitely some of the coolest cups we’ve created. We learned last summer how popular collectible figures on our straws could be and made them part of this year’s ‘Iron Man’ mania.”
7-Eleven is pairing its promotion with radio advertising and store signage, and contests in some store markets will award prize packs that include “Iron Man” movie posters, T-shirts, cups, mugs, straws and merchandise coupons, while a 6-foot-4-inch 2-D Iron Man character will become part of the in-store signs.
The entire promotional package is a solid fit for Marvel and 7-Eleven, given that energy drinks are seeing strong sales among young adult males, a key demographic for the superhero movies.
7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses approximately 7,500 convenience stores in North America and about 34,100 stores in 17 countries. The company’s worldwide sales in 2007 amounted to more than $46.6 billion.
