Kotaku
As a certified Slurpee addict, the press release for the massive May cross-promotion for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the Xbox 360, and 7-Eleven's Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee initially read "blah blah Slurpee blah Slurpee for Fahey" until I read through it a couple more times. 7-Eleven, Microsoft, and Activison are teaming up for a massive May PR blitz for the upcoming game and the new Slurpee flavor, where lucky consumers within range of Slurpee goodness will be able to purchase special cups with codes that can be redeemed via Xbox Live for Microsoft points, with chances to win copies of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith every hour of the month. 10 winners will also be receiving an Xbox 360 console along with their GH: A. Along with the contest, 7-Eleven will be strategically placing giant Guitar Hero poster tear-off pads, while media vans featuring 6 by 12 foot video screens with playable versions of the game will be touring store locations. Guitar Hero cups may just be a sign that it is time for my annual Slurpee road trip to the closest 7-Eleven to Atlanta, some 300 miles away. *sigh*
Slurpee® Rocks the Store with Guitar Hero May Promotion Aimed at Music-, Game-Savvy ConsumersDALLAS—(BUSINESS WIRE)—To promote its new Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee® drink this May, 7-Eleven, Inc. has partnered with Coca-Cola, Activision, Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in a marketing and public relations blitz designed to reach music-loving, videogame-playing, techno-savvy, 18- to 34-year-old males.
Online and radio contests, grassroots events and traveling street teams will call attention to 7-Eleven's promotion of Activision's highly anticipated Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. The Guitar Hero videogame franchise has sold more than 14 million games worldwide since its introduction in 2005.
In an online contest at www.slurpee.com, visitors can enter codes found on specially marked 22-ounce Guitar Hero-branded Slurpee cups for a chance to win a copy of the new Guitar Hero: Aerosmith videogame, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft, or Microsoft Points to purchase content from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. One copy of the new Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game will be awarded every hour throughout the month of May, for a total of 744 games. In addition, 10 lucky winners each will receive a prize package that includes an Xbox 360 console along with a copy of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Finally, more than 711,000 Microsoft Points will be awarded.
"The sweet spot of the core Slurpee customer is between 18 and 24 years old," said Jay Wilkins, brand manager for Slurpee and Big Gulp® beverages. "Our goal is to keep Slurpee as cool today as it was to teens and young adults in the 1960s when it was first introduced."
Today, that means partnering with hit movies, videogames, popular music and extreme sports ... and reaching out to teens and young adults where they are - online and on the street. To that end, 7-Eleven has planned some non-traditional approaches to this month's promotion in addition to unconventional advertising:
Getting Ripped - Giant tear-off pads of posters featuring art from Guitar Hero and Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee will be posted at 484 outdoor locations near schools, transit stations, theaters, skate parks, beaches, etc., in eight major metropolitan areas.1 (See below for participating markets.)
Mobile Screens - Media vans, each with a 6- by 12-foot video screen, will visit select 7-Eleven stores where visitors can play a version of Guitar Hero live.
Pickin' Slurpee - More than 10,000 custom guitar picks printed with Full Throttle Frozen Blast on one side and the slurpee.com website address on the other will be distributed at special events.
Hot off the Press - College students still read newspapers - their own. Full-color ads including Slurpee coupons will run in 21 college and university newspapers in 7-Eleven major markets.2 (See below for participating markets.)
Slurpee Nation - A revamped Slurpee website is the hub of all the activities, including featured contests, Slurpee trivia games and the 4-1-1 on upcoming special events.
"Every month this summer - every week even - something new will be buzzing around Slurpee," Wilkins said. "Stay tuned. Slurpee is ready to rock!"
Comments
I live half a block away from my closest 7-11. I'll be sure to have one for you Mike!!! Cheers!!
Guitar hero is the next Halo
Wow, they are promoting the hell out of this game. Only a few more products and it will have passed the Halo 3 advertisement level.
Sweet! Aerosmith, possible RRoD, and Brain freeze, all at the same time! Where do I sign up?
*gets in car, floors it to 7-11*
slupree and bacardi.
im not responsible for what happens afterwards
This makes me want to vomit slurpee out of my anus.
@Fahey: Don't you live here in A-town? We don't got no 7-11's, do we? If we did I'd be all over some Mountain Dew Grapleslurpleberry Burst action.
I love getting Slurpees as much as the next guy, but no. I'm gonna see if someone can put these cups in a corner or something.
Hot tears of shame.
"Stay tuned. Slurpee is ready to rock!"
YEAH!!! ROCK ON!!!
GENERIC FAT GOTH GUY AND GENERIC SMALL ROCK CHICK!!! WAAAAAH!!
Dammit, the last 7-Eleven in this town vanished a few years back, replaced by a Little Caesar's. Wonder if there's one in the neighboring town.
@Fahey: Nevermind, just clicked that link. I lose at the innernettes.
\O/
-| <-- Guitar Hero Franchise
/ \
- /|
/ -( <-- Shark
~~~~~~
And this is probably the worst part about living in Alaska... The nearest 7-11 is in fucking Seattle.
Does this mean Slurpee's sold old?
Is this about a drink or something?
@cordsie: ROFL I think they jumped the shark with "rocks the 80's" but thats just me.
Seriously. Kill this game. If Sony was smart (iffy) They'd partner up with EA/Harmonix and promote the shit outta Rockband. I mean, I need more entertainment in the form of two huge corporations going head to head and sucking in more companies to add as fodder in the wake of their destruction.
Maybe if guitar hero allowed for custom character's it'd be better...
Rockband needs to have some DLC and expand the inventory of items to deck out my guy with. I'd buy a formal expansion pack to rock band if it came with like 30 more songs (that werent DLC) and more clothing options.
At my old job I used to go to 7-11 every Friday after work for chili-cheese Fritos and a sour lime slurpee.
Considering there's one within walking distance from my place, I might have to reignite this great tradition.
Where it says, "promotion aimed at music, game-savvy consumers", I read it as, "manic, game-savvy". true dat.
Oh wait i think i see something..............and the Shark has officially been jumped.
Guitar Hero = Halo3
@cordsie:
An oversaturated cultural phenomenom, but not quite shark-worthy yet. Just wait for those promised "other instruments" to come out. THAT will be a catastrophe in and of itself.
So I was reading on Digg how Kotaku is banning dissenting users - thought I'd come see how high the drivel level was... and it's posting about Slurpee cups. Is your arm tired from scraping the bottom of the barrel?
@fnck_you:
you, and all those other diggers that dugg that article up know nothing about kotaku. They've always posted this kind of stuff, that's what makes them different. They aren't aiming to be "the source of gaming news", but rather anything the editors find interesting that's game related. That's why we see game cakes and crafts posts. It's not because there's nothing newsworthy to post, it's just what they do.
I've been an avid kotaku reader for a long time now, and it's always been this way. The only reason people are complaining now is because kotaku has gotten more exposure because of other sites writting articles on it, as well as appearances on a lot of different game related TV shows.
Please take your negative attitude elsewhere. There's tons of game-only sites out there. Go to joystiq, ign, or shack news. If you want an original experience, where the editors are people, not just tools to get articles out, then stay here.
@fnck_you: I'm not sure how this counts as drivel since the post is obviously game related. The point of this post is that 7-11 is promoting a GAME and gives details on said promotion. Yes, slurpees are part of the post, as the slurpee cups are directly related to the promotion.
Also i've noticed Kotaku does not ban users for disagreeing with them or their type of coverage. They ban people for being childish internet agitators and starting flame wars. Please do not take that as a sarcastic comment towards you as it is not just stating the facts.
@Lot Krotan:
You rock!
@Lot Krotan: yessir
You're right! You're all very, very cool. Carry on.
digg it
[digg.com]
Slurpee with Full Throttle in it?
I will never drink that stuff ever again. I had Full Throttle once, and when I went to bed, completely exhausted, I ended up tossing and turning for 8 hours.
Too bad they weren't using Full Throttle to promote Lucas Arts Full Throttle.
@fnck_you: I apologize, i'm sure everything you typically look at on the internet is much cooler than this. I'll make sure that my interests fit into whatever categories you deem fit.
@Kotaku:
Please make sure to take this site down immediately or at least get a consult from fnck_you to turn this into a prarie dog enthusiast site or whatever else he decides is the best direction for this community.
Rrgh! I hate their art since they switched over to Activision! Can't they just use their awesome 2d cinema artist as a reference and not those woefully warped characters in 3d?
Man, Cincinnati has absolutely no 7-Elevens in it. I saw like a thousand of them in Daytona Beach and thought it was unfair.
Amarillo doesn't have 7-11's. We do have Toot N Totums with "ICEE" machines, but those are exclusive to this area.
Frankly this is about on par with "Game Fuel", and since it doesn't directly impact the quality of the game I'm rather indifferent.
@THECapedCaper: your missing alot dude.. slurpee ftw.. and also not bad coffee. 1 thing they never had was game fuel mountain dew im still pissed..
@THECapedCaper:
But we do have the worlds largest concentration of White Castles :(
Full Throttle slurpee? Boo.
Bring back the Darth Vader on or sour apple. Hell, even strawberwii banana.
I live in Cobb County and I used to live in Alexandria Virgina about 2 miles from a 7-11. I feel your pain :'(
@Mike Fahey: at least you live in a country that serves slurpees....
i wish brasil had those... even if only during summer
All the 7-11 stores closed here well over a decade ago. Sucks. I would have liked a set of those glasses. Probably find then on eBay for $3.99 plus $37.80 for shipping.
@Pezdispenser:
Icees are so not the same as Slurpees, which you probably already know. I remember when I was in England, we had things called Slush Puppies that were pretty similar to Icees. I have Slurpees a couple of times a month. A few months ago, we were in Oakland and the only option was an Icee and it was good, but not as good, and definitely different. Icees are strangly creamy.
Strawberwii banana is one of my favorite flavors of all time, right behind the two Superman slurpees. Game Fuel was pretty gross.
They gotta be spending so much on promotion for this game....how can a company be so oblivious to the fact that a game like this has a very very small target audience and is most likely going to bomb?
Must be nice to have a 7-Eleven. Closest thing I have is Sonic if I want a slushie.
I couldn't imagine being without the 7-11, i may be moving to connecticut soon and i'm scared i may be SOL up there.
My faves are the Dr. Pepper slurpee (the holy grail - it's impossible to find) and good ol' classic coke.
What's the new flavor? Cigarettes, cocaine, and groupie sweat?
Icee actually preceded Slurpee. You can get Icees in Target.
I'm boggled at the thought of places without 7-11, though. I've always lived where there's one on every other corner. I used to coast downhill from college to the one with the cheap gas when the car was on empty.
Dammit. Now I need a Coke Slurpee.
Yeah! I love Slurpees! Mmmmm. I got the Halo cups, gots ta get me my Guitar Hero cups! lol.
Went to the new 7-11 that opened next to the office today for the sole reason of getting a slurpee, and the first thing I saw was the big GH sign above the slurpee dispenser. Took awhile to find the special GH slurpee cup, and I was surprised to find it wasn't the fancy semi-real ones like they used for Halo3, Simpsons, Iron Man, etc... It was just the usual disposable kind.
@docacola: I'm Sure ya can find a 7-11 in B.C.
I wonder if this promotion is U.S. Based. I work for 7-11 in Canada and havent heard anything about it :( Here's hoping!
oh noes! i need to hurry up and get the last iron man cup i need from the looks of it >.>;;;
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