Welcome to a special edition of PR Insights. Today's post will focus on a new awareness campaign of a restaurant I frequent at least four times a week, Taco Bell
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Taco Bell’s latest social media campaign has people drooling on their keyboards. The elusive Quesalupa, featuring the world’s first cheese-filled taco shell, is the new brainchild of the Taco Bell kitchen. In less than a month, it has already made a major impact on the internet, including Twitter, led by the #Quesalupa campaign. Here’s the catch; Taco Bell is only test marketing the Quesalupa in Toledo, Ohio. The fate of the new creation rests in the hands of the Toledo market, but Twitter users are making sure they do all that they can to convince Taco Bell to fully incorporate it onto the menu.
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Found on Twitter
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Let’s take a look at the strategy Taco Bell used to bring awareness to the Quesalupa. Based on my research, the first video mentioning the Quesalupa was broadcasted on Conan O’Brien’s late night talk show on TBS where the host visited the Taco Bell headquarters and was given a sneak preview of the menu item. Since the video went online on Jan. 21, it has racked up nearly 1.8 million YouTube views. Taco Bell also utilized internet opinion leaders Joshua David Evans and Booking Daym by allowing them to review the new item and post a YouTube video to their followers.
Taco Bell’s first tweet about the Quesalupa came on Feb. 2, where the hashtag campaign was primarily introduced. The company chose careful words to announce the new product and was able to create a huge amount of buzz in a very short timeframe. As of Feb. 13, the #Quesalupa campaign had reached 8.9 million people and had been mentioned 3,620 times. Out of these mentions, there have been very few negative comments.
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Illustration by Becca Morrow
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In my sample of 50 tweets, only 8% of users felt negatively about the Quesalupa. In one example, a Twitter user said “The #Quesalupa was overpriced & not special but you redeemed yourself with tacos that were ACTUALLY full. @tacobell.” Even with this negative review, Taco Bell is still successful in creating a huge amount of buzz about it’s new product which has brought some fans to the point of demanding it be brought to their local stores. Twitter users have proven this by saying things such as “@tacobell bring the #Quesalupa to #Orlando NOW!!!” The overall consensus based of my analysis on Twitter is that the Quesalupa is something that every Taco Bell needs to have on it’s menu. View the infographic above for more stats on the #Quesalupa campaign on Twitter.
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This campaign is still in its early stages, however, I think at this point Taco Bell is able to take a more gentle approach by letting Twitter do what it does best; talk. The market is driving the conversation, and its an overwhelmingly positive one. Although careful monitoring should still take place, Taco Bell is sitting in a pretty great position. I can only hope that the #Quesalupa campaign will be successful enough so that I can run out and grab one in the near future. You can do it, Toledo!
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