Authors: Alvaro Casado-Fadrique, Bettina Schwedler, Laura McGinty and Chandler Spurlock. Course: Principles of Public Relations. University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL (USA).

1. PRSA
Silver Anvil Award Winner 2011
PRSA
Silver Anvil Award Winner 2011
7-Eleven Unites America
with Purple Slurpees
7-Eleven
unites America
Álvaro Casado Fadrique
with Purple
Bettina Schwedler
Laura McGinty
Slurpees
Álvaro Casado
Chandler Spurlock
Bettina Schwedler
Chandler Spurlock
Laura McGinty

2. INTRODUCTION
Fall 2010, President Barack Obama accused
his Republican rivals of sitting around
“sipping on a Slurpee” rather than the hard
work required to get the U.S. back on its
feet after a global financial crisis.
One thing came out loud and clear to
FreshWorks/Ketchum:
7-Eleven’s cold slushy beverage was
suddenly a hot topic.

3. SITUATION ANALYSIS
The day after mid-term elections, President Obama was asked
about his accusation of Republican rivals of sitting around
“sipping on a Slurpee”:
-Would you hold a “Slurpee Summit” as your first meeting with new
Republican leaders?
-“Slurpees are a delicious drink”.

4. SITUATION ANALYSIS
7-Eleven acted quickly and within 24 hours, the story was
hijacked for the benefit of the brand.
FreshWorks/Ketchum kicked off a
three phase public relations campaign:

5. PHASE 1
Introduction of “Purple for the People” Slurpee and a 3,000-mile
“Slurpee Unity Tour” across the country.

6. PHASE 1I
A Slurpee Summit
in
Washington, D.C.

7. PHASE III
Free Slurpees for Americans on “Purple Friday”
(leveraged Black Friday, the post-Thanksgiving Friday that has
become a red-letter day for holiday shopping).

8. OBJECTIVES
1. Build a comprehensive public relations campaign to enhance
visibility of 7-Eleven’s Slurpee brand through 100 million media
impressions and a 15% increase in social media followers.

9. OBJECTIVES
2. Elevate 7-Eleven Slurpee brand by capitalizing upon the
essence of President Obama’s Bipartisian mission -positively
aligning Slurpee “Unity” messaging within 50% of the media
dialogue about the Slurpee Summit and Campaign.

10. STRATEGY
- President Obama’s influencial comments to generate media buzz about
the brand.
- Appeal to political reporters by associating the Slurpee Summit as the
official name of the Bipartisan meeting.
-Widen campaign by capitalizing on key moments in time (Black Friday).

11. ACHIEVEMENT
After the 3-week period:
7-Eleven’s Slurpee was frozen in the minds of millions of Americans:
more than 2 million Facebook fans,
nearly 2,000 media stories,
1.7 billion media impressions,
a total of $5.5 million in Ad value.

12. SLURPEE UNITY TOUR
Host: Mike McLendon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPdXWdY8Nc0

13. SILVER ANVYL AWARDS
The Silver Anvil Award is the most prestigious honor a public relations
professional can achieve, “the best of the best” public relations practices.
This award is given to a contemporary issue with exemplary professional
skill, creativity and resourcefulness, as is the case of:
FreshWorks/Ketchum and 7-Eleven who were awarded in
Jan,1 2011 in the category of Marketing Consumer Products.

14. Thanks!
Thanks!