7-Eleven, one of Australia’s
largest convenience store chains, has begun a revamp of their marketing partners
following a review of their business requirements.

Starcom, 7-Eleven’s media
business partner since April 2005 has been replaced by Naked Communications and
OMD. This combined team will be responsible for 7-Eleven’s communication
planning and media buying respectively.

The revamp continues with Haystac
being appointed to specifically deal with furthering brand communications and
creating a ‘more positive 7-Eleven experience’.
Their main focus will be on working with 7-Eleven’s flagship brands ‘munch‘
and ‘Slurpee‘.

Edelman and Leo Burnett will
continue as the corporate PR agency and creative agency respectively.

Tracy Hammon, 7-Eleven’s
brand and communications manager says the company is “looking forward to
working closely with Leo Burnett and our new partners to continue delivering
quality and engaging creative campaigns and to bring to market some new
products and categories that make shopping at 7-Eleven even more convenient.”

Hammon continues, “The
appointment of the new agency partners reflects our need for 7-Eleven to keep
talking to customers in a meaningful way regarding how we’re meeting their
needs now and in the future.”

The appointment of these
new marketing partners shows that 7-Eleven is serious about continuing to build
up the Slurpee brand, which has proved to be highly successful in youth
culture and their munch food-on-the-go brand, which, after two years on the
market, has recently begun showing positive results in terms of sales and brand
health surveys.

Talking about the decision
to change their marketing partners, Tracy Hammon says, “We’ve chosen agencies that understand our target
customers (who predominantly skew under-35) and who demonstrate innovative,
engaging and cost effective ways of reaching this audience through retail-based
brand-building programs. We’re excited to have the new agencies come on
board to strengthen the talent alongside agency partners we’ve been working
with to date.”