Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Patricia Odell

For more than 40 years, kids have been going to 7-Eleven to mix up frozen slushy Slurpee drinks to ease the summertime heat.

This season, senior director of marketing Stephanie Hoppe has repositioned the brand, capitalizing on the lifestyle preferences of its “sweet spot” consumer, the 18-year-old male. Which means a super-sized roster of promotions, including tie-ins with movies like “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk,” sampling at events such as the Vans Warped tour, partnering with the makers of the “Madden '09” video game and chatting one-on-one with customers. It jumped into the energy drink craze too, developing Monster Black Ice, its first black Slurpee.

Hoppe talks about keeping pace with these young guys.

PROMO: Why did you reposition Slurpee?

Hoppe: Things were working, but we knew that we could get more mileage out of our marketing dollars. When we looked at how the 18-24 year old male lived, how they consumed media, we thought that a one-on-one connection would be much more effective.

P: What are you doing this month?

h: We are partnering with EA Sports and promoting and building up anticipation for the new video game “Madden NFL '09.” We've got a 22-ounce 3D lenticular collectible Slurpee cup that will show different football scenes with well-known players.

P: Why Madden?

h: A few years ago we did research to find out what our consumers like to do during their leisure time. We discovered that they like to watch sports and action and super hero movies, and they love gaming. Madden is the top sports video game in the country.

P: Are there other marketing elements?

h: We are selling the video game at 7-Eleven. We'll also be sampling at Maddenpalooza on Aug. 11, where the game will be released at midnight. In keeping with the football theme, this month we are partnering with Gatorade in a flavored Slurpee called Gridiron Ice.

P: How do you decide which property to partner with?

h: We have certain criteria that we match our products to, to make sure that it's something that our consumers would love. So, for example, the “Guitar Hero” video game made a lot of sense for us as well.

P: How is this summer different from the way Slurpee was marketed in the past?

h: We've utilized properties in the past, but we know what our product lineup is going to be over a year in advance, so we've chosen properties based on products we have already developed.

P: Does the marketing extend beyond retail?

h: We revamped Slurpee.com in May. We were just not relevant at the old site.

P: What are the key changes?

h: We have video uploading and social networking. You can go online and tell us about different flavors. There's lots of tongue-in-cheek humor. We wanted to get them online in fun and engaging ways. You can click and see movie trailers or play games, contests and sweepstakes or get free stuff.

P: How is it going?

h: In the first month, the unique visitors more than tripled what was our total first quarter of the year.

P: What about sales?

h: Sales are up double-digits for Slurpee this summer compared to last summer.

P: Did you increase the marketing budget for Slurpee?

h: We've moved some funds over to the grass roots efforts. It's been a significant investment, but it's paying off.

P: Do you conduct focus groups?

h: I was just on the road for two weeks going from coast to coast. We bring kids in who love Slurpees and throw ideas by them. You have to get out of the office and get into the streets to make sure you know what they like.

P: What's next?

h: A partnership with the NFL, but we don't have all those details set yet.

P: What's your favorite Slurpee flavor?

h: I like to mix the Cherry Coke and the Dr Pepper all together. Seventy-five percent of our customers mix. They layer them together. The kids call them suicide Slurpees.

W

For more on consumer promotions, go to www.promomagazine.com.

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