Each July 11, 7-Eleven celebrates its birthday. Putting a unique spin on this eagerly anticipated event is always a challenge, let alone during a pandemic. To make up for having cancelling it In 2020, in 2021 7-Eleven extended the celebration from just one day to the whole month to avoid customers over-crowding stores on the actual day of 7/11.

But 2021’s birthday needed to be more than simply memorable. 7-Eleven's mobile app technology could push delivery to the max, so we needed to drive awareness, excitement and usage of the 7NOW home delivery app – the ultimate convenience. Our idea needed to connect 7-Eleven with out-of-this-world delivery in people’s minds.

Mission: make Slurpee’s 2021 birthday bigger and better, taking it boldly where few have gone before. Delivering 7-Eleven’s signature product, Slurpee, into the cosmos was our moonshot; driving usage of 7NOW’s delivery app through Slurpee Space Delivery buzz, our landing.

To show that 7-Eleven now delivered anything in the store, anywhere, at any time, and encourage customers to use its 7NOW delivery app, we created a stunt engineered to deliver consumer and media attention. We delivered Slurpee to the last place anyone expected – SPACE.

Using a team of astrophysicists, climatologists and technology specialists, we delivered Slurpee where no Slurpee had ever been delivered before.

Living in a world where we can have just about anything delivered to our doors, 7-Eleven knew it had to make delivery an integral part of its business. But where all delivery services are otherwise the same, we wanted to differentiate.

We built excitement for Slurpee Space Delivery throughout the July Birthday Month through the 7Rewards loyalty program, the 7NOW delivery app, in stores, on social media – and we targeted top news and entertainment media to secure well-placed stories.

With each Slurpee ordered through 7NOW delivery throughout July, customers voted for which flavor would be delivered into space.

And after Slurpee Space Delivery touched back down, a second round of PR captured even more buzz. The Slurpee Space Delivery rig held several cameras so footage of the journey was used as content on both 7-Eleven and Slurpee Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, and in media coverage.

7-Eleven announced its Slurpee "spaceflight" on July 12. As the centerpiece of the Birthday Month celebration, the stunt showed how seriously the brand took the concept of delivery.

Throughout the month, we drew attention to the launch on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and in news announcements for each element of the celebration—including 7Rewards, the brand’s loyalty program, 7NOW delivery app, and the “Cosmic Cup” sweepstakes. Fans could earn a chance to win a cup by engaging on 7-Eleven’s social channels.

Slurpee Space Delivery took to the skies on August 10. The winning Coca-Cola flavor was poured into the “Cosmic Cup” created for the occasion, securely mounted into its camera-equipped platform, and launched under the power of a helium-filled weather balloon.

We made sure media were present at the launch to cover all the action, and distributed EPKs to those who couldn’t make it.

Slurpee Space Delivery received positive media coverage, together with the 7NOW delivery service, and 7-Eleven’s annual birthday celebration. The PR program stimulated serious business growth, got Slurpee into the hands of consumers, and drove digital downloads. It was the top performing 7-Eleven PR program of 2021.

We secured 2,100 earned media placements in Tier-1 outlets including Today, PEOPLE, CNN and Elite Daily and delivered 2.9 billion media impressions. Even better, nearly 90% of Slurpee Space Delivery coverage mentioned 7NOW delivery.

7-Eleven gained more than 100,000 new 7Rewards members as a direct result of the program —a 12% increase in members compared with 2020. Sales of Slurpee drink units increased 60% year-over-year, and the brand dispensed 146% more Slurpee drinks during the summer period.

We generated 7,200 7-Eleven Day mentions across social media and increased 7-Eleven’s Instagram and Twitter followers by 1,200 with our Slurpee Space Delivery content. We received 154,000 social impressions following a Slurpee Space Delivery integrated influencer program, including the flavor vote and chance to win one of the exclusive Slurpee Space Delivery aluminum cups.”

But it went even further. Just like the space launches of the 1960s, 7-Eleven’s adventure transcended mere marketing and entered pop culture. People were talking about us with 7-Eleven Birthday Month even garnering a mention by celebrity Slurpee fan Jimmy Fallon during his Tonight Show opening monologue.