Taco Bell Corp.’s biggest online fans helped launch the company’s newest addition to its Cantina Bell menu.
The Irvine-based fast-food chain hosted an Instagram party last week at the SmogShoppe entertainment venue in L.A., giving its social media influencers a chance to taste the Cantina Double Steak Quesadilla and brag about it on the popular photo- and video-sharing platform.
“Our main [marketing] strategy is to play where our fans are,” said Nick Tran, Taco Bell’s social media lead. “We are letting the influencers tell the story instead of the brand. They are the people who engage with us over the social media channels, and over the time we have built relationships (with) them. Now we are turning the online engagement into a reality.”
Tran’s team, in collaboration with Huntington Beach-based olloclip, provided 70 “Instagrammers” with fun tools, such as different camera lenses and filters for iPhones to help capture the steak- and pepper-jack-cheese-laden quesadilla. Instapparel of Costa Mesa was also there in case anyone wanted Chef Lorena García’s newest creation printed on a T-shirt.
Photos of the new quesadilla started appearing on Instagram and spreading to other social media sites shortly after the event kickoff.
“I keep seeing people post about Taco Bell stuff, and now I want it,” a fan tweeted on Tuesday evening.
This is not the first time the fast-food chain has used the photo-sharing network to promote its products. Taco Bell ran an Instagram campaign last year that awarded users prizes for their original Doritos Locos Tacos photos.
The launch of the Cantina Double Steak Quesadilla also includes traditional advertising platforms, such as a 30-second TV spot produced by Taco Bell’s agency of record, Draftfcb in Los Angeles, that features Garcia wielding a large knife in front of her nervous sous chefs as she cuts up the steak for the quesadilla.
Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc. of Louisville, Ky.
Inking a Deal
Pentel of America Ltd.’s digital agency of record, The Buddy Group of Irvine, is helping the Torrance-based developer of the first felt-tipped pen launch a national promotion that gives consumers the chance to win $500,000.
The sweepstakes will run through the end of the summer. It encourages people to buy marked packages of Pentel EnerGel-X pens that contain a code they can use on the company’s website to see if they’ve unleashed the “Power of Pentel.” The grand prize will be shared between the winner and a school of his or her choosing.
The agency will also manage Pentel’s digital marketing strategy, social media engagement, video creation, content marketing, and microsite design and development for the EnerGel-X.
The Buddy Group has “a track record of finding a way to leverage technology and content as a means of engaging with our consumers in a meaningful way. In the last year, we experienced 1,025% growth and 1,670% more engagement on our social platforms,” Pentel’s marketing director, Ilene Albert-Nelson, said in a news release.
The Buddy Group’s other clients include AARP, Epson America Inc., Western Digital Corp. and YouTube. Pentel of America is a division of Japan-based Pentel Co.
Marriage Based on Cars
Kelley Blue Book Co. has launched its first cross-brand marketing effort to promote its newly forged partnership with Royal Dutch Shell PLC brand Quaker State of Houston.
The Irvine-based car research site named Quaker State its official motor oil and plans to use the brand in its long-term test vehicles.
The first-of-its-kind relationship for Kelley Blue Book will be promoted through “significant media and public relations support” designed to provide consumers with seasonal automotive and driving advice online and in retail stores. A series of informational videos will focus on ways consumers can “drive longevity and durability for their vehicle,” according to company officials.
