THINKING OUTSIDE THE BUN
In the Quick Serve Restaurant (QSR) category, Taco Bell has always been both the outsider and the underdog. Fast food is dominated by burger chains and Taco Bell doesn’t sell burgers, and that makes them different in a good way. We owned that point of difference and made it a badge of honor. The tagline, Think Outside the Bun, was both a challenge to our consumers and our north star. When you’re thinking outside the bun, you can make up crazy menu items like the Bacon Club Chalupa, Cheesy Gordita Crunch and the Crunchwrap Supreme (seriously, these are real items.)
We followed this strategy by creating a Think Outside the Bun universe where anything could happen as long as the story was inspired by and revolved around the delicious and ridiculous food. We called it “Strategy Fantastic.” This was a pre-digital world, so TV was the medium of choice. Lions, pirates, guys in drag…it was all up for grabs. The campaign was incredibly successful, generating 4 years of 4% same-store sales growth with a $270 million marketing spend generating $6 billion in annual sales. That's a lot of tacos.
CAN A VALUE MENU BE COOL? YES.
First, start with the insight that spare change is hiding everywhere...get your hands on it and anyone can afford Taco Bell's .79 .89 .99 Value Menu. Second, cast real up-and-coming beatbox and rap artists to collaborate and star in the spots, and shoot with one of MTV's best directors, Pam Thomas. The campaign was totally different for Taco Bell and the marketplace. By embracing the price point and making it fun, sexy and relevant, it cut through and was one of the Bell's biggest successes.
TACO BELL'S FOURTHMEAL: THE MEAL AFTER THE AFTER PARTY
You know you've struck a chord when the advertising idea gets picked up by late-night talk show hosts, fuels memes, and lands on Urban Dictionary.
Taco Bell needed to grow sales and expand its late-night day part. The good news? Late-night consumer behavior has existed for millennia: Humans like to stay up late, party and then find something fast and greasy to stuff their faces with. So, instead of advertising a “late-night” menu, we branded the behavior and day part the “Fourthmeal,” launching with TV and its own web experience (pre-iPhone). Consumers loved it (sales went up) and the media had a field day (thank you Mr. Colbert) And more than ten years after introducing the idea, Fourthmeal is still a thing. That's the power of a human truth affecting pop culture.
Click here for Twitter: #fourthmeal and Instagram: #fourthmeal
#memes
THE DAO OF SAUCE
Taco Bell came to us with the idea that they wanted to turn their sauce packets into three-inch tall fortune cookie-like objects. They wanted to use them not as advertising, but as opportunities to connect to the consumer in a branded and light-hearted way. It was ingenious, and I wish I thought of it. But, as the agency, we had the fantastic opportunity to write them and build out the “Saucy” world, one packet at a time.
X GAMES TAKEOVER
MLB fans love Taco Bell. So we had some fun with the tray liner.
And then somehow, it became a thing for sorority sisters to go as Hot Sauce packets.
