7-Eleven Drives Apprentice Tonight

7-Eleven appears tonight on The Apprentice to tease the April 18 launch of its P'EatZZa Sandwich.

Apprentice teams are given the task of helping to launch the sandwich, the latest addition to 7-Eleven's fresh-food menu, a major push for the c-store chain this year. The show taps 7-Eleven's sponsorship of Tony Kanaan's Indy Racing League car and team, Andretti Green Racing, for the task.

The Apprentice gig is "a good conversation-starter for this product launch. It'll generate excitement with employees and customers," said 7-Eleven VP-marketing Doug Foster. Dallas-based 7-Eleven will support P'EatZZa Sandwich with media ads and two summer promos. Omnicom Group's FreshWorks division, Dallas, handles. Omnicom sibs TracyLocke, TPN, Dieste Harmel & Partners and The Integer Group formed FreshWorks to handle 7-Eleven after the team of agencies won its review last fall.

NBC is running two episodes of The Apprentice tonight, one featuring 7-Eleven and the other featuring Ace Hardware (Xtra, April 6).

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