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Entrant: Dentsu Creative, New York
Brand: 7-Eleven
Title: "Always Open"
Corporate Name of Client: 7-Eleven
Client Company: 7-Eleven , Irving
Client Company EVP, Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer: Marissa Jarratt
Client Company Vice President – Marketing, Insights, Loyalty, and Monetization Platforms: Mario Mijares
Client Company Senior Director, Retail Media & Shopper Marketing: Neha Nayyar
Client Company Senior Manager, Shopper Marketing & Strategic Partnership Management: Holly Langford
Client Company Associate Manager, Sports & Shopper Marketing: Kennedy Beair
Client Company Senior Director, Communications: Stephanie Shaw
Client Company Director, Internal Communications: Dea Pennington
Client Company Senior Manager, External Communications: Shannon Lynch
Client Company Senior Director – Brand, Advertising, Media & In-store Marketing: Marissa Eddings
Client Company Associate Manager, Culture & 7Collection: Alex Crawford
Client Company Senior Manager, Culture & Social Media: Christy Mitchell
Client Company Associate Manager, Social Media: Lauren Friesenhahn
Client Company Sr. Analyst, Social Media Insights: Krishun Jackson
Client Company Photographer & Senior Graphic Designer: Matt Corsi
PR Company: Edible , Chicago
PR Company Executive Vice President, Brand Reputation: Laura Fries
PR Company Vice President, National Media Strategist: Shannon Frieser
PR Companies Vice Presidents: Arielle Lyons/Genna Scisci
PR Companies Account Executive(s): Kiara McKinney/Ferrero/Brighton Chen
PR Company Account Supervisor, Brand: Kiara McKinney
Sports Partnership Company: Genesco , Dallas
Vice President, Corporate Consulting: Laura Sipes
Vice President: Paul McCormick
Senior Manager, Corporate Consulting: Chelsey Morrow
Assistant Account Manager: Dharius Timmons
Vice President, Product Development & Production: Sheila Larsen
Director of e-Commerce: Jacob Campbell
Merchandise Company: Craftwork, Huntington Beach
Agency: Dentsu Creative , New York
Agency Chief Creative Officer US and Hispanic LATAM: Rafael Rizuto
Agency Chief Creative Officer Chicago: Pedro Perez
Executive Creative Directors: Leonardo Barbosa/Cuanan Cronwright/Bridget Jewell
Creative Directors: Byron Wages/Jake Reilly
Associate Creative Directors: Andrew Pattee/Danny Colon
Copywriters: John Dillon,
Art Directors: Byron Edge/Jared Richmond
Agency Project Manager: Paige Wheeler
Agency Director, Social Marketing & Strategy: Stephanie Caruso
Agency Manager, Social Marketing & Strategy: Daniela Bernal
Agency SVP Client Leadership: Joshua Safran
Agency Account Executive: Alexia Assimakopoulos
Agency Account Supervisor: Jak Tedesco
Agency Account Director: Brianna Laurent

Description:
7-Eleven capitalized on a real-time cultural moment sparked by celebrity influencer and National Football League (NFL) star Ja'Marr Chase's social post about being "always open" like 7-Eleven. By leveraging Ja'Marr Chase's influence, the campaign utilized the immediacy of social media to connect with fans in real-time. Through strategic influencer marketing and an innovative social activation, the campaign resonated with audiences and translated to tangible commercial success for the brand. Ja’Marr Chase is one of the NFL”s superstars and one of the best at his position, wide receiver. His role on the field is to always stay open to catch passes. Following a loss where Ja’Marr was consistently open, but didn’t get thrown the ball, he began referring to himself as “7-11,” the iconic store that famously stays open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He broadcast this message across social media and in TV interviews, without any prompting from the brand.? The brand responded with “Always Open:” a real-time, reactive partnership between Ja’Marr Chase and 7-Eleven that celebrates what it means to “Always be Open.” Less than 24-hours after Ja'Marr's reference to himself as "7-Eleven," the brand signed a deal with him and collaborated on a fashion line featuring his comments on hats and t-shirts, along with an iconic branded gold chain necklace. Leveraging his enormous fanbase, Ja'Marr launched the merchandise collection on social media, directing traffic to our website, IsJamarrOpen.com, for purchase. Our idea continued to build the social conversation by ingraining the association between 7-Eleven and Ja’Marr Chase in culture. 7-Eleven figured out how to show up across TV and social media platforms in placements where the NFL typically bans any type of brands. This included on the field during the game and during the walk to the locker room in pre-game. Brands are typically banned from being featured during NFL games other than in very specific placements that have high media price tags. However, at Ja’Marr’s next game - just one week after his initial comment – we got the 7-Eleven brand to show up all over the game…with no media cost. Ja’Marr wore the “Always Open” t-shirt during the televised walk to the locker room - showing off the 7-Eleven brand as part of his pregame fashion. And then, during the game, he wore the gold 7-Eleven necklace on the field. After multiple catches, he pulled it out and flashed it at the camera, yelling “7-Eleven!” Reach and engagement were strong and immediate. During the live broadcast of the game, the campaign reached 18M+ viewers. Over the course of the first week, the campaign earned over 500 million social and traditional media impressions, with over 99% positive sentiment for Ja’Marr Chase and 7-Eleven. Every major broadcaster and outlet in American sports media covered the campaign, including Sports Illustrated, ESPN, USA Today, SBNation, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Fox News, DraftKings, Barstool Sports, BroBible and more. As a result of the robust reach and social engagement, the Always Open collection sold out in less than 48 hours, as did the restock. 7-Eleven’s website saw the 2nd-highest-ever visitors, the “7-11” tweet t-shirt was the 2nd-best-selling 7-Eleven merchandise item in history, and it all led to $166,167 in sales in just the first week, with items continuing to sell rapidly today, over 6 months after the campaign ended.