7-Eleven & Mondelēz Partnership Takes Home Global Marketing Award

IRVING, Texas, and  DEERFIELD, Ill. — A collaboration between 7-Eleven Inc. and Mondelēz International won a 2019 Shopper Marketing Effie Award in the New Product/Service Introduction (Bronze) category. Phoenix Creative Co. was the lead agency.

First launched in 1968, the Effie Awards honor the most effective advertising efforts and the companies and individuals who are responsible for them.

As part of an effort to bring excitement back to the Oreo cookie brand, particularly among millennial shoppers, Mondelēz's in-depth program spread Oreo's new mint flavor across multiple categories in 7-Eleven convenience stores, according to Convenience Store News sister publication Path to Purchase IQ.

7-Eleven was able to offer an exclusive drink, the Oreo Mint Hot Chocolate, as well as Oreo Mint king-size Oreo cookies, Oreo Mint donuts and Oreo Mint chocolate candy.

A wide-ranging, integrated effort supported the new flavor and multiple product launches at 7-Eleven, where Oreo had recently seen an 11 percent dip in consumption, while 7-Eleven overall had been seeing a nearly 3 percent rise in cookie sales as a whole. 7-Eleven's status as the second largest retailer of hot chocolate in the United States, as well as the fact that the c-store operator scores hot beverages as 14 percent of its sales, inspired the idea for the hot chocolate flavor.

The launches kicked off with PR and media outreach, while large window banners featuring the iconic cookie paired with the hot chocolate. Inside stores, floorstands carrying cookies and candy, and calling out the hot chocolate flavor, garnered floor space, while shelf talkers and wobblers called out the hot chocolate down the aisles; a cling pairing the Oreo Mint doughnut with the hot chocolate was in the bakery; and a large translite was featured on the 7-Eleven hot chocolate machine.

Additionally, social influences generated social chatter and drove foot traffic, and an exclusive Oreo Mint Dunk-O digital game engaged shoppers in a fun way, awarding daily prizes, according to the company. In-aisle wobblers drove shoppers to the game, and the campaign leveraged promoted posts on Facebook and ran a geo-targeted campaign through the Waze app to drive shoppers to the store, according to the news outlet.

Ultimately, the campaign helped drive a nearly 30 percent bump in sales for the Oreo cookie brand compared to one year ago. The brand also saw a specific increase in 7-Eleven sales short of a full percent, which was a significant jump from an 11 percent deficit the previous year.

Irving-based 7-Eleven operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 68,000 stores in 17 countries, including 11,800 in North America.

Convenience Store News and Path to Purchase IQ are properties of EnsembleIQ