7-Eleven promotion of The Simpsons Movie earns recognition for national network of PR firms
LOS ANGELES (April 1, 2008) -- PRConsultants Group Inc., a nationwide network of public relations practitioners, along with 7-Eleven Inc., was recently recognized as a finalist for the 2008 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Silver Anvil Awards for its work on the 7-Eleven promotion of Twentieth Century Fox's The Simpsons Movie.
Twelve members of PRConsultants Group (PRCG) were involved in the campaign, lauded by marketers as a "bold, brilliant, genius and award winning" example of reverse product placement. It also supported the company's goal of driving store traffic, increasing sales and reinforcing the 7-Eleven brand as fun and relevant.
For the 2007 promotion, 7-Eleven turned 11 stores nationwide into Kwik-E-Marts for the month of July to help promote The Simpsons Movie release. Colorful character cut-outs and products taken straight from the TV series, such as Buzz Cola, Krusty O's and Squishees (7-Eleven's legendary Slurpees, renamed), attracted thousands of delighted Simpsons fans to the stores.
PRCG members gave an advance to key journalists for the first day of the Kwik-E-Mart transformation, and then pitched the Simpsons story to print, TV, radio and the Internet, arranging for hundreds of in-store TV segments and interviews with 7-Eleven management. Spurred by the efforts of PRConsultants Group members, the story was picked up by media nationwide, resulting in TV media values of nearly $4 million in the first week and helping to sell more than one million bright pink Simpsons Sprinkalicious donuts. All told, the story garnered a total of 1400 TV segments and hundreds of print articles, including mentions in all top US newspapers, as well as numerous radio segments. The promotion also was an Internet buzz leader, boosting 7-Eleven.com web traffic by more than 300 percent and hitting the Yahoo and Entertainment Weekly top 10.
Publicity value was estimated at a very conservative $7 million; promotional value was estimated at more than $2.5 million. The Wall Street Journal ranked the 7-Eleven's Simpsons promotion as #2 in its review of the best promotions of 2007.
The entry was chosen from the 875 entries in the competition. The Silver Anvil winners will be announced at the June 5, 2008 PRSA Silver Anvil celebration event in New York City.
PRConsultants Group is a national network of marketing and public relations professionals collaborating to provide national strength and local power to consumer and retail clients. Covering every U.S. media market, network affiliates also represent business-to-business, real estate and finance, high tech, hospitality, arts/entertainment, and nonprofit organizations.
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