7-Eleven partnered with American Football star Ja’Marr Chase to create an on-field, out-of-home activation during an NFL game, to communicate Ja’Marr and 7-Eleven’s shared commitment to being always open. This was experienced by tens-of-thousands in the stadium and seen by 18+ million watching the live broadcast.

By leveraging Ja’Marr Chase’s popularity, and the scale of a live game, the idea connected 7-Eleven with millions of fans and translated to tangible commercial success for the brand.

With an average of 18 million viewers per game and 184 million fans (approximately 50% of the U.S. population), the NFL is one of the world’s most popular sporting leagues. Ja’Marr Chase is one of the league’s superstars and one of the best at his position, wide receiver. His role on the field is to always stay open to catch passes.

Following a loss where Ja’Marr was consistently open, but didn’t get thrown the ball, he began referring to himself as “7-11,” the iconic store that famously stays open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He broadcast this message across social media and in TV interviews, without any prompting from the brand.

7-Eleven has focused on football as a fandom for multiple years, with programs such as “Fuel your Football” and “Cleat Crew,” building a shared affinity between 7-Eleven and American football fans. Therefore, Ja’Marr Chase’s comments represented the perfect opportunity to react quickly and generate positive engagement with football fans, for both Ja’Marr Chase and 7-Eleven.

Situation: In American football, the objective of a wide receiver is to break open for passes and score touchdowns, and Ja'Marr Chase is one of the NFL's elite players. Following a few frustrating games where he was consistently open but did not receive the ball, Ja'Marr organically took to social media and TV interviews dubbing himself "7-Eleven." His intent was to highlight his constant openness as a wide receiver, akin to the 7-Eleven's "always open" hours of operation.

Objective and Brief: Identifying this breaking sports news and social trend, we needed to respond swiftly and strategically to leverage the moment and spark conversation around the brand to solidify 7-Eleven's presence in American Football culture.

Reach and engagement were strong and immediate. During the live broadcast of the game, the campaign reached 18M+ viewers. Over the course of the first week, the campaign earned over 500 million social and traditional media impressions, with over 99% positive sentiment for Ja’Marr Chase and 7-Eleven.

Every major broadcaster and outlet in American sports media covered the campaign, including Sports Illustrated, ESPN, USA Today, SBNation, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Fox News, DraftKings, Barstool Sports, BroBible and more.

As a result of the robust reach and social engagement, the Always Open collection sold out in less than 48 hours, as did the restock. 7-Eleven’s website saw the 2nd-highest-ever visitors, the “7-11” tweet t-shirt was the 2nd-best-selling 7-Eleven merchandise item in history, and it all led to $166,167 in sales in just the first week, with items continuing to sell rapidly today, over 6 months after the campaign ended.

To celebrate Ja’Marr Chase and 7-Eleven’s shared commitment to being always open, we created a gold chain with a bejeweled 7-Eleven logo, which Ja’Marr pulled out every time he caught a pass during an NFL game. This was seen by tens-of-thousands inside the stadium and 18+ million watching the live broadcast.

Most advertisers in NFL stadiums are restricted to traditional and expensive media placements like hoardings surrounding the field. Ja’marr Chase, wearing our brand in gold around his neck, got 7-Eleven to stand out within this crowded arena…with zero media cost.

After the game, Ja’marr promoted the jewelry and the entire clothing line on social media, driving tens-of-thousands to IsJaMarrOpen.com, where they could buy replicas of the merchandise he wore during the activation, to wear themselves.