The Super Bowl is a cultural phenomenon, but the reality is, by the time the Big Game is played, most fans are statistically losers. The fact is, there are more losers than winners during the playoffs. After all, only two teams make it to the Big Game. Thirty don’t. And a handful come painfully close.
For those fans, the playoffs and especially the day of The Big Game can be...hard. So, 7-Eleven is turning their BOGO pizza offer (when ordered for delivery on the 7NOW App) into a free “Emotional Support Pizza” for the fans whose teams don’t make it to the big game.
The Emotional Support Pizza
Created in partnership with Dentsu Creative, dentsu X, and Tag, the integrated campaign came together in less than a week’s time, to create buzz around the brand’s BOGO pizza offering, based on a relevant insight.
The campaign launched on January 24, just before the AFC and NFC championship games, with a 60-second video illustrating the concept, but the real fun began after the games that Sunday evening. Based on the results of each championship game, the campaign launched targeted local reactive messaging in real-time, creating surround-sound across OOH, social and radio. The Washington Commanders and Buffalo Bills fans were targeted with Emotional Support Pizza messaging the moment they lost, while the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs were playfully prompted to send along an Emotional Support Pizza to a friend to ease the pain.
The campaign hinged on quick, witty creative, scrappy local media buys and scenario planning production, especially key to break through in one of advertising’s most crowded moments.
Marissa Eddings, Senior Director of Brand, Advertising, Media, In-Store Marketing, and the In-House Creative agency at 7-Eleven, Inc.: “As marketers we are always weighing the risk and the reward. As a business, we knew we needed to bring more attention and awareness to our 7NOW delivery ahead of the big game - not just on gameday. This required our teams to think and act more subversively - and that’s what made it such a fun creative challenge for our agency.”
By tapping into the emotional highs and lows of football season, this campaign turned heartbreak for football fans into a delicious opportunity—because even if your team loses, free pizza is always a win.
The Impact
This tactical approach generated +54% avg daily app installs (equating to +38,441 total app installs over the course of the campaign.)
The campaign was also featured in top industry publications, earning recognition for its unique and relatable approach in Ad Age, Campaign US and MediaPost.
