• by Karl Greenberg , April 30, 2009

Convenience chain 7-Eleven is running one of its biggest motion-picture promotions to date against Warner Brothers' "Terminator Salvation," which hits big screens on May 21.

Leading up to the movie's May 21 release, 7-Eleven will promote the movie in its stores and online, and the brand is also featured in the movie. The company also has a brand presence in Wolverine Beginnings premiering Friday.

For "Terminator," 7-Eleven will do extensive point-of-purchase offerings around its proprietary Slupree drinks. The effort includes a "Terminator Salvation" flavor called "Apocalyptic Ice," which the company says is a mélange of blood orange and lychee, developed for 7-Eleven by Coca-Cola. Stores will also carry a series of themed collectible and paper cups and straws featuring machines from the movie in graphics that make the scenes appear to move. Participating stores also will carry licensed toys and merchandise, featuring movie characters.

The Dallas-based 7-Eleven -- which has about 7,800 stores in North America and 36,000 stores worldwide -- also has something of a star turn in the movie, with the store becoming engulfed in a nuclear blast but surviving, and serving as a haven for the human rebels.

Bobbi Merkel, director of convergence at FreshWorks, 7-Eleven's agency, says the positioning is unusual -- even for 7-Eleven -- because while the company does product integration and co-promotional activity in and around some four motion picture releases per year, "Terminator Salvation" is the first in which an entire store is recreated in the middle of nowhere.

"Studios have shot in 7-Eleven stores -- Tom Cruise gets his mission from inside a 7-Eleven in 'MI III' -- and featured 7-Eleven products, but this was unique."

Adds Angela Carrales, senior marketing director of point-of-purchase at 7-Eleven: "In the script they had written in an opportunity for a 7-Eleven gas convenience store and they approached us. The studio was going to take the responsibility of building the store and the island. They asked us to provide the signage."

She says the 7-Eleven team had to scour the nationwide system for a sign that looked old and out of use. The sign half-obliterated in the film will now hang at the company's headquarters.

Merkel says such deals boost interest in the film and drive traffic to stores because they involve depictions on 7-Eleven collectibles and packaging of fantastical characters -- in this case, giant robotic machines -- before the films are on the big screen. "What we do is take things that people haven't seen -- things they are excited about -- and bring them to life. Timing is everything; in order to create the [collectible] cups and straws in time we had to ask them to rearrange their production schedule to create imagined versions of the [computer-generated] characters beforehand. It was collaborative."

As for the 7-Eleven store getting blown up -- almost -- Merkel says authenticity matters more than the sanctity of the brand. "[7-Eleven] is able to have fun with the brand and see it through the eyes of customers," she says. "They are able to say we are iconic and can look at ourselves through the eyes of a consumer rather than as a brand that is untouchable."

The convenience-store chain is also using the sponsorship to launch a new Slurpee Nation online rewards program and sweepstakes at www.slurpee.com, which has been redesigned with a "Terminator Salvation" theme. The sweepstakes offers a grand prize of custom-made Limited Edition Xbox 360 consoles branded with "Terminator Salvation" graphics. Other prizes include a "Terminator Salvation" video game and Xbox subscriptions and gear for lower-rung winners. Slurpee cups have codes that can be entered on the Web site for prizes via the sweepstakes and instant-win games.

Participating 7-Eleven stores will sell the new "Terminator Salvation" video game, which also features a digital version of a 7-Eleven store and is scheduled for a May 19 release. Seven-Eleven will also run radio ads promoting the "Terminator Salvation" campaign in select markets.