BYO CUP DAY

Short List
TitleBYO CUP DAY
Brand7-ELEVEN
Product / ServiceSLURPEE
CategoryA05. Best Use of Digital Media in a Direct Campaign
EntrantLEO BURNETT Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Entrant Company:LEO BURNETT Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
DM/Advertising Agency:LEO BURNETT Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Jason Williams Leo Burnett Melbourne Executive Creative Director
Andrew Woodhead Leo Burnett Melbourne Creative Group Head
James Orr Leo Burnett Melbourne Art Director
Elle Bullen Leo Burnett Melbourne Copywriter
Patrick Rowe Leo Burnett Melbourne General Manager
Ari Sztal Leo Burnett Melbourne Group Account Director
Eamonn Dixon Leo Burnett Melbourne Copywriter
Terence Thean Rodeo Digital/Social Build
Leah Grant Haystac Pr
Neville Betts OMD Media

The Brief

Slurpee has always been a different kind of drink. It lets people pour, mix and fill their cup any way they like. But in 2011 more and more copycat competitors entered the Australian frozen drink market. This included an aggressive advertising push from Coca-cola that threatened the brand’s number one position. We needed to remind drinkers why they loved the Slurpee brand. We needed to make ourselves different again.

Creative Execution

Slurpee is extremely experimental in nature. Drinkers have the freedom to pour and mix their individual flavour concoctions. So by giving them freedom to choose not only how they pour Slurpee, but also what they drink it out of, we were able to create a point of difference between us and the competition, and remind consumers why they fell in love with Slurpee in the first place – the unique and personal hands-on experience. It was a gesture that no bottled drink could ever offer, and no other mainstream drink would ever dare to, making a uniquely Slurpee idea.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

On 21st September, 2011 we changed the one thing no other brand had ever thought to change before – the cup. On ‘Bring Your Own Cup’ Day anyone could bring in any ‘cup’ they liked and fill it for the price of a medium Slurpee. We seeded the idea prior to the event on facebook by asking 150,000 of our closest friends one question, “If you could fill up any cup with Slurpee what would it be?”. They responded with thousands of original ideas for potential cups. The best suggestions formed an outdoor campaign which promoted the day itself.

Results

We gave Australia total creative control of our product, and they responded by filling over 80,000 ‘cups’. That’s nearly half a million litres of Slurpee. The highest Slurpee sales in history were recorded, making it the most successful promotion to date. Achieving a 270% increase in unit sales for the same day the previous year. Sales have consistently increased month upon month following the promotion, cementing Slurpee’s position as Australia’s favourite frozen drink. And more user-generated content was created in one day, than in the brand’s history.