Cars and Slurpees: Why 7-Eleven Actively Encourages Car Meets

From the October 2022 issue of Car and Driver.

Forget canyon overlooks and coastal roads as a background for your car pics. There’s a new trend that’s all about convenience. As in, convenience store. As in, your nearest 7-Eleven. While many businesses discourage car meets, the Slurpee purveyor actively encourages them, in particular through its official Instagram account, which regularly reshares tagged car content. We spoke with Marissa Eddings, senior director of digital and content marketing for 7-Eleven, about the popularity of #carsof7eleven on Instagram and TikTok.

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C/D: When did you start noticing car photos featuring 7-Eleven?

Eddings: We noticed people tagging us in their “carfies” in front of 7-Eleven stores a few years ago, and we began posting cars in our feed in 2020. Last year a TikTok user posted a video about 7-Eleven’s car Instagram content, which led to a 40,000-plus-follower increase on Instagram in less than 24 hours. To acknowledge these new followers and increase our car content, the hashtag #carsof7eleven was born.

Was there a noticeable uptick in car photos tagged with 7-Eleven after you started resharing?

Definitely. Between October 26 and November 9 alone, we saw more than 3600 new user-generated posts, and 85 percent of them were cars at 7-Eleven stores.

Are there any details that would make a photo more or less likely to be reshared?

Deciding which cars to reshare each week is a fun challenge. Vintage models, standout paint jobs, and luxury vehicles under the 7-Eleven sign tend to be featured weekly. But we love any and all creative shots that come our way.