NYC-based studio Safari Sundays was recently tasked by convenience store chain 7-Eleven to update one of its signature brands, the Slurpee. One of 7-Eleven’s most iconic offerings, the sweet, tasty, icy slurry of deliciousness is available anytime, especially in the warmest of summer months.
Usually, refreshing a heritage brand includes balancing a need to modernize and appeal to a new generation of consumers while maintaining and reinforcing existing consumer affinity. Safari Sundays more than met the challenge with a chic, vibrant refresh of Slurpee that’s not only Gen Z-ready but taps into the unique qualities of the frozen treat by bringing them to the forefront.
Dieline followed up with Damon Gorrie and Adam Walko of Safari Sundays and 7-Eleven’s Marissa Jarratt to dive deeper into the summer-ready Slurpee refresh, including the bespoke SWERVE typeface.
Let’s talk about the brand world and visual identity—aside from the new wordmark, what other brand assets did you create for 7-11 and Slurpee?
Adam Walko, Chief Creative Officer for Safari Sundays: Our goal from the beginning was to deliver the brand team with a healthy toolkit of flexible graphic assets far beyond the core logotype that could give it enough depth to stand alone as its own brand beyond the 7-Eleven moniker.
We brought the “S” monogram to life as a new mascot—Styles, who embodies the mischievous child inside us all. We developed secondary pattern work, taking the “S” and transforming it into a vibe of everlasting flow. Along with designing the new cups, we revisited critical photographic Slurpee cup assets. We developed a hyper-real dollop that emulated the exact shape atop the “S.”
We also hope to evolve the plastic top’s literal shape to mirror the new dollop even with the cap on. The dollop shape also inspired a highly versatile border/framing system that will get used to frame future photography and flavor assets.
More playful, secondary versions of the “S” monogram were also created to celebrate key values and vibes that we see as key to the brand, from the ephemeral nature of the product to the balance of choice. We developed a custom headline typeface to help emphasize the motion and attitude behind some special words. Moving deeper into comms, we developed a new tagline: “Fill Freely” and a supporting tone of voice. We also devised a new design architecture with a versatile template for all flavor cards developed in the future, from both digital to print asset needs.
Why did 7-Eleven want to refresh Slurpee now?
Marissa Jarratt, EVP and CMO at 7-Eleven: Like many brands, our growth target is Gen Z and younger Millennials, many of whom know the brand, even if they haven’t grown up with it. We want to make them aware of 7-Eleven’s deep, 95+ year heritage and show them that we are a modern brand ready to meet their needs.
So, we ensure we have a great lineup of refreshing, unique, and delicious flavors, a bold new look to catch the eye of these customers, and a new marketing campaign and activations that capture the attention of new and existing customers.
What were the project goals?
Damon Gorrie, Partner, Safari Sundays: The Slurpee redesign aimed to make it appealing and relevant to a new generation of fans, specifically, a Gen Z audience. We also want to introduce the brand to a new set of customers in 7-Eleven’s Speedway and Stripes stores.
The upcurved tip on the “S” is reminiscent of the top of a Slurpee. How did that idea come about?
Adam Walko: Our overall goal from the beginning was to rebuild every part of the Slurpee identity to have the potential to tap into your inner “young you.”
The logotype was the best place to start. We rounded, smoothed, and swerved every bit to emulate the literal material and bring out its more youthful, younger Slurpee-self. Then, already knowing we wanted to make the “S” a standalone monogram, we added the flip of the dollop to have enough character and link to the brand to stand alone. The “S” now stands as a bold monogram freshly poured from the machine.
Can you talk about the SWERVE typeface created for the Slurpee refresh?
Adam Walko: As we got deeper into the communication needs, we needed a more overt way to inject character and attitude into some words that a normal font wasn’t delivering. Borrowing cues from the “S” monogram, we again looked back to the flowing nature of the product itself.
Giving the typeface a caught-in-motion, upward swerve allows a designer to upgrade and emphasize a word’s flare, flavor, and living character. It’s Slurpee’s new version of underlining or highlighting a thought. Shout-out to the team at Grilli Type for helping us finalize our vision into a full headline typeface.
How important was balancing Slurpee’s brand heritage while adding appeal to new consumers?
Adam Walko: It was paramount that this evolution didn’t alienate any diehard fans. But, our dedication to Slurpee’s heritage was more focused on the DNA of its past actions, presence, collaborations, and willingness to transform on a moment’s notice—not any literal design assets.
Of course, the logotype, for example, has an inherent relationship with past word marks, but our real goal was to build in the extra models, frames, and spaces for new potential wows to happen. At one time, Slurpee celebrated pop culture, championed more choice, and constantly shape-shifted more than any brand we could remember. That is what the diehards know and love. Therefore, the key was not to go and redraw or bring back literal heritage graphics but to build new tools and frame new spaces for the brand to live as bold, free, and tapped-in as it once did.
What insights did 7-Eleven’s “Brainfreeze Collective” provide to the Slurpee project?
The collective currently has about 250K members who discuss ideas, opinions, and experiences about 7-Eleven, Speedway, and Stripes stores.
Marissa Jarratt: The Brainfreeze Collective, 7-Eleven Inc’s proprietary customer research panel, launched in April 2021 to help name new or limited-time offer products. They helped inspire the beloved beverage’s latest look, full of eccentric colors and eclectic vibes.
What were the strategy and goals behind the merchandise designs? Are there specific aesthetics or influences that played into the merch design?
Damon Gorrie: We created an initial approach and inspiration style guide for Slurpee to live in culture through merchandise and bring the “fill freely” attitude to life. 7-Eleven’s partners have brought this to life in various playful ways for launch. We are developing a fresh range for next summer and exploring collab partners.
