7-Eleven Powers Up Its March Madness Beverage Lineup

DALLAS -- 7-Eleven Inc. is teaming up with The Coca-Cola Co.'s Powerade sports drink brand to make this month's NCAA "March Madness" tournament more memorable for its customers.

The convenience store chain will feature Powerade's Mountain Berry Blast flavor as part of its Slurpee frozen carbonated beverage offering, as well as at its Big Gulp fountain machines.

In addition, consumers purchasing the beverage at 7-Eleven's Big Gulp fountains can take home a souvenir cup, depicting four "miracle moments" from NCAA tournament history. The "Miracle Match-Up" cups feature Taliek Brown from the 2004 University of Connecticut Huskies; Lorenzo Charles, 1983, North Carolina State Wolfpack; Jon Bryant, 2000, University of Wisconsin Badgers; and Tony Skinn, 2006, George Mason University Patriots.

A quick response (QR) code is housed on each Big Gulp cup, allowing the customer to use his or her smartphone to link to a mobile Powerade website where CBS analyst Greg Anthony hosts a brief video about that cup's featured big play. According to Powerade, the video content is exclusive to 7-Eleven for a limited time.

As for the Slurpee, this marks the first time Powerade has developed a flavor for a 7-Eleven frozen carbonated beverage, according to the company. The drink manufacturer stressed that the new flavor is not a sports drink, like many of its other beverages.

7-Eleven, a subsidiary of Seven & I Holdings Co. , operates more than 7,200 locations in the United States and 44,000 locations worldwide.