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7-Eleven Helps Life Imitate Art
If you live in a major U.S. city, you may have noticed recently that your local 7-Eleven looks a little different. A dozen of the convenience stores were turned into “Kwik-E-Marts,” the fictional version of 7-Eleven from The Simpsons, to promote the long-running cartoon’s feature film debut later this month. Not only does the handful of locations resemble the cartoon store run by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, but most of 7-Eleven’s franchised stores will sell special products that until now could only be seen on The Simpsons. Customers can now buy everything from Krusty-O’s cereal to Buzz cola to the signature Slurpee-like Squishee, if only for a limited time.
The promotion is a win-win for Fox, 7-Eleven, and fans of the show. Research from the studio shows that customers who watch The Simpsons and those who visit 7-Eleven are often the same, and the advertisers behind the campaign say viewers have been waiting years to buy the products they see on TV. Homer and his family are generational icons that appeal to entire families and fans of the show have purchased everything from “Don’t have a cow, man” shirts to millions of talking Bart dolls.
It’s also a fun and creative way to step outside the box when it comes to ad campaigns. Nothing is being given away free, the costs of the store transformations are being absorbed by 7-Eleven and will likely be made back many times, and consumers can connect with the show in a way they couldn’t before. In a world where product placement is everywhere (watch Transformers, aka the 2-hour long GM commercial), this is one example that makes sense. Certainly after being made fun of on The Simpsons for more than a decade, 7-Eleven deserves the right to cash in when the opportunity presents itself. There’s been no mention of whether store owners will take the promotion a step further by borrowing Apu’s catch-phrase and telling customers “thank you, come again.”
Will it work, or should the Kwik-E-Mart have stayed in Springfield?
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