7-Eleven Australia’s Slurpee has picked up an international social media ‘Shorty Award’ for the second year running, beating work for Adidas and The Walking Dead in the ‘best use of Instagram story’ category. The category honours the most effective and creative use of an Instagram story by a brand, agency or organisation.

The brand won the award for its ‘Slurpee tap of war’ campaign, which was the first gamified and competitive Instagram story that got fingers tapping and fans clapping. A two-player game of skill between Slurpers using the left and right functionality on Instagram.

Created by one of 7-Eleven’s digital creative partners, Isobar, the Slurpee tap of war campaign was focused driving engagement from Slurpee consumers, by using Instagram stories in a new and Slurpee way.

According to 7-Eleven Head of Brand and Communications, Jess Richmond, the campaign was incredibly successful.

“In the 24 hours the story was live, we had close to 400,000 total taps, more than 4.5 taps per second. We had an average of six rematches per player, and lots of player sharing on social media from a completely organic campaign, not supported by spend,” Ms Richmond said.

The campaign was also recognised by Facebook, showcasing it in a best practice and innovation case study.

Isobar Associate Creative Director, Emma Park, said their team can push the boundaries creatively with the support of the Slurpee team.

“The 7-Eleven team are willing to be bold with the Slurpee brand, and try things that are different. They challenged us to create Slurpee’s version of an Instagram story. It had to reflect the crazy, loud and fun nature of the brand,” Ms Park said.