Coffee Heats Up by Chilling Out

Iced coffee has shown double-digit jumps for years, up 20% this year already, which is good news for 7-Eleven, Inc.

The company intends to go head-to-head with Dunkin’ and McDonald’s by debuting a new iced coffee that will be supported by a major marketing campaign stressing value (i.e., a lot), price and— love. The new flavors of (what else?) French Vanilla and Mocha will be available at 4,500 U.S. locations from machines that let customers dispense the drink over ice in clear cups. The month-long ad campaign will include radio spots, outdoor, metro rail & bus transit buys, in-store signage, and POP displays. Online viral marketing will include a new iced coffee website with email couponing.

The ads are aimed at the “traditional iced coffee consumer,” typically young adults 18-34 (at 39% the largest group of iced coffee consumers). Ad lines include some serious double-entendres, including “I've never been this cheap before” and “You have expensive taste.” Taglines for print ad and online tout the theme “I look good in any cup size” and “Trust me, I'm a handful.” The campaign comes from FreshWorks, a consortium of Omnicom shops set up specially for 7-Eleven’s ad needs.

While the flavor profile is the same nationally, one exception is Long Island, NY, the birthplace of coffee-to-go four decades ago (thanks to 7-Eleven). Long Island tastes require a stronger flavor and less sweetness, and with 30% of all cold coffee sold in the Northeast, the company doesn’t intend to rock the java boat. The iced coffee will help the company move its demographics away from the usual (male) since more females prefer the iced version. The iced-coffee category already drinks up 15-20% of sales in QSRs and coffeehouses, and Nielsen AdViews Competitive Tracking estimates the category could top 1 trillion cups in 2009.

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