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7-Eleven rewards entrepreneurial women in new video campaign

7-Eleven is looking to women entrepreneurs to find its next franchisee, employing them to compete with mobile video creation to make a dramatic impact and show off its support for women. 

The applicants are invited to apply and the last 25 will make videos showcasing why they should win the contest and become the manager of a 7-Eleven. This move is meant to bolster the brand?s own workforce while also using social media as a tool for marketing and hiring simultaneously.

"Some of our most successful franchisees across the country are women," said Larry Hughes, 7-Eleven vice president of franchise systems. "7-Eleven serves a diverse customer base, and the number of women shopping our stores continues to grow. 

Entrepreneurialism
In the modern era, society has made significant progress in seeing women elevated to the highest levels of business, but gaps still remain.

For many women, the glass ceiling is still firmly in place. Management positions are still mostly held by men,

7-Eleven is seeking to remedy this problem on a personal level and tap into social and mobile video as a marketing tactic with a new campaign targeting entrepreneur women.

The campaign seeks talented, enterprising women who are interested in a management career. 

They are invited to apply through the brand?s Web site by submitting an essay and interviewing with sales associates.


From there, the social and mobile aspect takes over. Twenty-five of the best applicants will be invited submit a video showing why they should win, to be uploaded on the brand?s Facebook page and other social channels.

The public will decide the top three candidates by voting through social media and on mobile devices.

From there, 7-Eleven will pick the top winner who will be awarded a fee-free 7-Eleven location to manage.

Additionally, the brand will donate money to a charity of the winner?s choosing.

The specific location will be available for the winner?s choosing from any available location in the US.

Mobile video campaign
This campaign is not just a way to cash in on the growing trends of mobile and social video, it also offers an empowering message to women and a tangible benefit to go along with it that seeks to raise the profile of women business owners in the US.

But on top of that message, 7-Eleven is making great use of the popularity of mobile video as an engaging way of interacting with customers.

As mobile devices grow more powerful with bigger screens, faster processors and better video quality, it becomes even easier for high-quality video spots to dominate the marketing conversation on mobile.


7-Eleven is tapping into that with this campaign.

Other brands have done similar campaigns, such as a Lenovo video series that highlighted women in computer science (see story).

Additionally, 7-Eleven is working with mobile in other ways, such as how it has integrated with PayPal to offer cash deposits in-store (see story).

?More and more are choosing to become independent business owners, and 7-Eleven offers a proven system and one of the best entrepreneurial opportunities around," Mr. Hughes said.