>

>
> Temporary Kwik-E-Mart in Burbank (photo by Karen Nicoletti)
> DALLAS -- Over the weekend, 7-Eleven Inc. turned a dozen stores into
> Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores of "The Simpsons" fame,
> in the latest example of marketers making life imitate art.
>
> Those stores and most of the 6,000-plus other 7-Elevens in North
> America will sell items that until now existed only on television:
> Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal and Squishees, the slushy drink knockoff
> of Slurpees.
>
> It's all part of a campaign to hype the July 27 opening of "The
> Simpsons Movie," the big-screen debut for the long-running television
> cartoon, which loves to lampoon 7-Eleven as a store that sells all
> kinds of unhealthy snacks and is run by a man with a thick Indian
> accent.
>
> For 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and Homer's creators at Gracie Films,
> the stunt is a cheap way to call attention to their movie, since 7-
> Eleven is bearing all the costs, which executives of the retail chain
> put at somewhere in the single millions.
>
> At 7-Eleven, they're hoping it shows the ubiquitous chain has a trait
> seen in few corporations -- the ability to laugh at themselves.
>
> "We thought if you really want to do something different, the idea of
> actually changing stores into Kwik-E-Marts was over the top but a
> natural," said Bobbi Merkel, an executive for of 7-Eleven's
> advertising agency, FreshWorks, a unit of Omnicom Group Inc. "It shows
> they get the joke."
>
> The monthlong promotion has been rumored a long time -- it's hard to
> keep a secret known by so many suppliers and franchisees -- but 7-
> Eleven managed to keep the locations of the stores quiet until early
> Sunday morning. That's when the exteriors of 11 U.S. stores and one in
> Canada were flocked in industrial foam and given new signs to
> replicate the animated look of Kwik-E-Marts.
>
> The U.S. locations where a 7-Eleven store was transformed into a Kwik-
> E-Mart are New York City; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Burbank, Calif.;
> Los Angeles; Henderson, Nev.; Orlando; Mountain View, Calif.; Seattle;
> and Bladensburg, Md.
>
> The idea grew out of conversations between Fox and 7-Eleven's
> advertising agency.
>
> "We wanted to make sure the movie stands out as a true cultural event
> this summer," said Lisa Licht, a marketing vice president at Fox. "It
> has to stand out from other summer movies and TV shows."
>
> The Fox/7-Eleven deal is an example of a practice called reverse
> product placement. Instead of just putting products prominently in a
> movie or TV show, fake goods move from the screen to reality.
>
> In some cases, 7-Eleven has contracted with manufacturers of similar
> products to make their Kwik-E-Mart counterparts. Malt-O-Meal, the
> Northfield, Minn., cereal maker, will conjure up a recipe for
> KrustyO's, for example. In others, existing products will simply be
> renamed. One flavor of 7-Eleven's own Slurpee will be sold as "WooHoo!
> Blue Vanilla" Squishee for the month.
>
> Other recent examples of reverse product placement include Bertie
> Bott's Every Flavor Beans, which spun out of the Harry Potter books
> and movies, and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurants, which opened after
> the movie "Forrest Gump." 7-Eleven has done other movie-themed
> promotions, including one this spring for the latest Spiderman
> installment.
>
> After Fox pitched a 7-Eleven tie-in last year, representatives from
> the studio, the stores, and Gracie Films -- including Simpsons creator
> Matt Groening and executive producer James L. Brooks, met in Los
> Angeles to kick around ideas. Brooks added one -- holding a contest to
> let one fan be drawn into a future episode of the TV show.
>
> 7-Eleven executives loved the idea. They had surveys showing a strong
> overlap between their customers and fans of the show -- both tend to
> be young and male. It sounded like cash registers ringing.
>
> "They've been looking at Squishees and KrustyO's and Buzz Cola for
> years and have never been able to put their hands on it," said Merkel,
> the advertising executive.
>
> But they won't find Duff beer, the brand chugged by Homer Simpson. The
> movie will be rated PG-13, and selling a Simpson-themed beer "didn't
> seem to fit," said Rita Bargerhuff, a 7-Eleven marketing executive.
> "That was a tough call, but we want to make sure it's considered good,
> responsible fun."
>
> Bargerhuff predicted extra sales to Simpsons fans will more than
> offset the cost of the promotion and create new customers for the
> chain. She also said the chain is prepared for crowds and will have
> extra security and clerks at the Kwik-E-Marts.
>
> The promotion, however, is not risk-free. The proprietor of Kwik-E-
> Mart is a man named Apu who speaks in a heavy Indian accent. He is
> based on a manager Groening encountered while shopping at a 7-Eleven
> in Los Angeles nearly 20 years ago and plays to stereotypes about
> convenience-store operators and Asian immigrants.
>
> Many of 7-Eleven's franchisees are Indian, company officials say,
> although they say they don't track exact numbers. Bargerhuff said they
> were "overwhelmingly positive" after hearing of the Kwik-E-Mart idea,
> but "it was not a 100%% endorsement."
>
> "There was definitely a concern of offending people," she said. "But
> they seemed to understand that 'The Simpsons' makes fun of everybody.
> The vast majority saw this as a great opportunity."
>
> That's the case for Kumar Assandas, a 28-year-old franchisee whose
> parents immigrated from India. His store in suburban Las Vegas is one
> of the temporary Kwik-E-Marts.
>
> "I know it's a stereotype, but it doesn't bother me. Everybody knows
> it's a joke," Assandas said. "I'm a big Simpsons fan myself, and maybe
> subconsciously it even inspired me to become a 7-Eleven owner."
>