Have YOU had the Cool Ranch Doritos Locos taco yet? I can’t say that I was waiting anxiously outside of my local Taco Bell on March 7th when this new wonder debuted, but millions of taco fans could barely contain their excitement. Not convinced? Follow Taco Bell on Twitter or Facebook and you’ll experience the overwhelming response. On March 4th Taco Bell announced via social media that fans could get the new Cool Ranch DLT (Doritos Locos Taco) a day early and the response was a mix of joy and outrage. Many fans hopped on the chance to indulge while others were shocked to discover that their local chain had not gotten the memo.
It seems that Taco Bell knows exactly what their fans want and have aimed to deliver. In fact, the franchise has focused their advertising for the new DLT on their fans. Working their fan base, the earliest announcements of the new taco came in the form of teasers, meant to fuel the DLT craze and build anticipation.
Next came a series of ads featuring tweets from fans about the new taco sensation. Since the rise of social media, companies have been able to receive more direct feedback from their fans and have taken advantage of this in their ads. Through these ads Taco Bell is not only able to highlight fan comments, but also feature these fans in the ad, emphasizing their delight in finally having the Cool Ranch DLT.
Starting to sound familiar? You might be thinking back to the iPhone 5 and Apple’s promise to finally deliver all of the features that fans have been anxiously awaiting. So is this new, fan-based advertising genius or overdone? That’s up for us as consumers to decide. After all, gone are the days of simply consuming advertising. Today, we can all be a part of the magic behind the ads.
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I think it’s really cool that taco bell used their advertising that way. I have yet to try the new taco but I know that the next time I go to taco bell, I will be more then likely to buy the new taco. Personally I like the new fan based advertising, however, I believe if they make promises to there buyers they should be able to follow through. You mentioned the iPhone 5, and I personally don’t think they fulfilled all the customers needs like they said they would.
All of these advertisements are part of escalation and the polis. The best example of this was Taco Bell’s commercials for their new taco. The first commercial was to promote it and the second showed people writing on social media platforms where to get free tacos, and others took immediate action to go get them. This would be a part of the concept that you want something and need it now. If this were a case of de-escalation Taco Bell would have not thrown it in people’s faces that there was a new taco and they need to come get it now, or it will be gone. Instead, they should have let people come into their restaurant on their own and let them see that there was a new item on the menu. They would then be able to choose there weather or not they wanted to try it.
Despite the hype, I have yet to try one of those Taco Bell DLT’s. As far as Taco Bell’s advertising and marketing decisions go, I’ll probably have to say not genius but an effective, tried and true method. They are using their own fans as credibility to create an even larger fan base. By only allowing certain Taco Bells to sell the DLT, the company created tension and even greater desire–evil genius. Greater desire equals greater hype. More people were trying to get their hands on the DLT and tweet about it to their peers. This is just one example of how companies use the consumer and WOM to increase consumers-aka the fan base and sales.
As a last thought, I will admit that I’m a little curious about the DLT. However, as delicious and scary as they look I will most likely be sticking with my number five.
As a vegetarian who doesn’t eat fast food, I wasn’t the least bit excited or thrilled about the release of the Cool Ranch taco. I was very indifferent about it. However, I think that Taco Bell’s advertising was effective. They specifically targeted people who were anticipating the taco. They were able to use social networking to target these specific people who were excited about the new taco. This type of hype and excitement was exactly how Taco Bell wanted the taco to be marketed. This is just another example of how escalation is used by companies to promote their latest product. Taco Bell caused so much excitement over the new taco that people couldn’t wait to get their hands on it. If Taco Bell was trying to de-escalate the new taco, they would have released it without all the hype and allowed the customers to experience the taco on their own.
This was such an interesting and unexpected topic! I also anxiously awaited this taco because taco bell being so convenient to campus is somewhere I always grab on the go. All of the advertisements are part of escalated polis as well! It was an example of escalation because they urge you to get the taco before they no longer have this ‘special’ available. If it was de-excalation they would simply not promote the taco and threaten it will not longer be there if they do not act fast and try it now.