Diet 7UP Blasts Off With Sweepstakes

To support the reformulation of Diet 7UP with Splenda Brand Sweetener, the soft drink maker has announced a sweepstakes that will launch the grand-prize winner into space.

Consumers can enter the Diet 7UP Free Ticket to Space sweepstakes by logging onto 7UP.com and entering a code found on specially marked packs of Diet 7UP. The sweepstakes runs through August 31, and the top winner will get a chance to fly to the edge of suborbital space on an FAA-approved commercial space flight.

The sweeps will be supported by a national TV ad campaign that debuts June 13, and was filmed in an authentic zero-gravity environment aboard G-Force One, a plane that simulates weightlessness.

7UP’s sweepstakes is the second this year that is dangling a trip into space. Volvo Cars of North America offered a seat aboard Virgin Galactic’s first commercial space flight in a sweepstakes that promoted the automaker’s XC90 V8 SUV.

Volvo reported that the Web site for that sweepstakes, which was launched Feb. 6 during Volvo’s first-ever Super Bowl spot, received more than 18 million hits, and that more than 135,000 aspiring astronauts registered for the chance to win a seat aboard.

“Sixty percent of Americans have said, if given the chance, they would be interested in going UP into space,” said Randy Gier, CMO, Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages, in a statement. “At 7 UP, we’re excited to be on the forefront of making dreams come true.”

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