For the second time in a month, 7-Eleven might be looking to Snapple to be its knight in shining armor after falling victim to an unusual case of consumer perception whiplash.
Snapple’s early June giveaway promotion with 7-Eleven brought the convenience chain its best consumer perception numbers of 2013.
However, 10 days later, perception dropped to its lowest point when federal authorities raided nine stores, charging owners and managers with making millions of dollars by exploiting immigrants from Pakistan and the Philippines.
In what may be just in the nick of time, Snapple announced on Monday that it will exclusively ship its three new Lemon Daze lemonades to 7-Eleven, with a special discount price of two bottles for $2.22 through September 5th.
7-Eleven was measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Impression score, which asks respondents, "Do you have a general positive feeling about the brand?" Results were for adults 18+ who are aware of the 7-Eleven brand.
On May 31st, the day before Snapple’s giveaway with 7-Eleven began, the chain’s Impression score was -6. By June 11th, just before the end of the promotion, 7-Eleven hits its highest Impression score of the year with a 3 score.
Two days after the promotion ended on June 15th, federal agents made their arrests at nine stores with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents executing search warrants at more than 40 other stores across the country. 7-Eleven’s Impression score quickly reversed course, hitting -13 on June 21st, its lowest level of the year so far.
7-Eleven’s current Impression score is -10.