ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Industry Dive acquired Mobile Commerce Daily in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out our topic page for the latest mobile commerce news.

7-Eleven drinks up sales from mobile-enabled summer sweepstakes

Contestants enter by purchasing Slurpee drinks, downloading the 7-Eleven app and scanning the bar code located on the cup, encouraging consumers to spend more in-store and drive up app usage. To further play on consumers’ interests in warmer weather activities, prizes for the sweepstakes all center around summer with a focus on summer festivals and concerts, such as VIP trips to top upcoming music festivals, festival-themed makeovers and a meet-and-greet with artist Austin Mahone.

“We expect that the opportunity to win exclusive prizes and one-of-a-kind music experiences will be exciting for our customers and will also attract new customers to our stores and encourage app downloads,” said Laura Gordon, vice president of marketing and brand innovation at 7-eleven. “Slurpee fans will definitely be excited that with every Slurpee drink purchase of any size, they could win big with Slurpee All Access Chill.

Trips and events are not the only prizes offered, as numerous product giveaways are also featured, including Sonos Play:5 headphones, Beats by Dre headphones, Spotify premium subscriptions, iTunes gift cards and Slurpee merchandise. Winners are picked daily, and the campaign runs through July 18.

Marketing solstice 
The spring and summer season is the time for brands to get involved with these types of promotions. After cold and long winter seasons, consumers are drawn to anything related to summer, and Slurpee drinks and music festivals embody that.

Offering such a wide range of prizes is also important for 7-Eleven. Consumers are more likely to engage when the reward is high and the entry process is simple, especially with a big name such as Austin Mahone attached.

This campaign is ideal to draw in millennials, with the big name music artist as well as the limited-edition Mountain Dew product. Limited-edition products can draw up a large amount of buzz and hype on social media and mobile due to the short time frame, but Mountain Dew limited-edition products seem to create an even greater engagement, especially in the millennial demographic.

Millennial absorption 
The chain has been working on ramping up its app awareness and mobile sales. Recently, 7-Eleven drove purchases of its beverages while simultaneously rewarded customers for their loyalty by rolling out the 7Rewards platform within its mobile application, proving that food and beverage marketers must have a specific loyalty strategy to retain existing consumers (see more).

The convenience store brand was keen to partnering with Mountain Dew due to its overwhelming presence in millennials and social media. The soda brand has forayed into numerous platforms of mobile and social media and recently jumpstarted excitement for two new flavors of Mtn Dew Kickstart by leveraging a real-time, consumer-driven Snapchat story, proving that the social messaging application continues to gain traction as a bridge to build personal connections between brands and customers (see more).

“This year, we wanted to provide our customers with access to the coolest, one-of-a-kind music experiences,” Ms. Gordon said. “Our customers already have the opportunity to earn rewards with our 7Rewards program on the 7-Eleven mobile app, but we wanted to give them exciting experiences with Slurpee.

“With Slurpee All Access Chill, fans are entered to win exclusive prizes and one-of-a-kind music experiences with every Slurpee drink purchase and scan of their 7-Eleven mobile app barcode,” she said. “With Slurpee All Access Chill, we hope to bring Slurpee and music together and for a lot of lucky winners, create special memories that will last a lifetime.”

Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily