That Time 7-Eleven Transformed Into The Iconic Kwik-E-Mart
Let's take a trip in the Wayback Machine all the way to 2007. "The Simpsons," a prime-time animated TV show popular with adults and kids alike, was finally releasing a movie. As Fox marketing vice president Lisa Licht told CBS News, the studio felt that this movie would be a "true cultural event" and in order to make sure that it would stand out in a sea of summer releases, they went with a pretty unique promo. While product placement in movies is commonplace, Fox took the opposite tack by bringing a selection of Simpsons staples into the real world by way of marketing partner 7-Eleven.
Some of these products, including "Radioactive Man" comics, Krusty O's cereal, Buzz Cola, and Squishees, were sold at 7-Elevens nationwide — no Duff Beer, though. The products that were available, however, proved to be so popular that The New York Times notes they were a hot commodity on eBay as soon as the promo ended. Nowhere did they attract a bigger buzz, however, than at a select few 7-Elevens that were chosen for a very special marketing campaign.
Only a dozen 7-Elevens were involved in this extra-special promo
As CBS News reported at the time, 7-Eleven locations in Bladensburg, Maryland; Burbank, California; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Henderson, Nevada; Los Angeles; Mountain View, California; New York City; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle were transformed into close replicas of the TV show's Kwik-E-Mart convenience store. This one-of-a-kind ad campaign was actually international in scope, as there was an additional Kwik-E-Mart in Coquitlam, British Columbia, as well (via YouTube). Not only were the exteriors of these stores given a makeover with the signage replaced to read "Kwik-E-Mart," but the employees wore uniforms in Kwik-E-Mart colors (green and blue). The cost for this makeover ran into the millions, but 7-Eleven happily picked up the tab and apparently had little cause to regret doing so. People were willing to stand in long lines to shop at these faux Kwik-E-Marts and, as 7-Eleven marketing director Rita Bargerhuff told The New York Times, sales in those stores were "off the charts."
15 years later on, there's yet to be a "Simpsons Movie" sequel, and as showrunner Al Jean tells Yahoo!Movies, apparently "it's not on the ... radar" at present. There's plenty of demand for such a movie, however, so who knows, maybe one of these years we'll finally get one. We don't know whether the show will partner with 7-Eleven again, but you better believe we'll be all over it when and if they do.