With all the drama over late night TV, Lake Forest-based Del Taco LLC has started an ad campaign with a nod to talk show-style sketch comedy.
The restaurant chain’s Del Taco Super Special Show ads are done by the Newport Beach office of Southfield, Mich.-based W.B. Doner & Co.
The “show” is hosted by an actor playing an affable restaurant worker named Wes, who does a bit of standup and introduces sketches, sight gags and bits at a Del Taco late at night.
Gags include a guy with taco shells for hands and a “hot sauce girl” who offers a guide to Del Taco’s hot sauces.
The sometimes raunchy spots echo the strategy of burger chain Carl’s Jr., part of Carpinteria-based CKE Restaurants Inc., which goes after young guys with sometimes racy ads.
The video footage appears in Del Taco’s TV and radio ads and also in a series of longer episodes on Del Taco’s Facebook page as well as on YouTube.
“We’re using social media to extend the Del Taco brand,” said John Cappasola, vice president of marketing at Del Taco.
As part of the Facebook campaign, users who view the first Web episode can get a coupon for a free taco.
TV spots are airing in Southern California and Del Taco’s other larger markets during the National Football League playoffs, Los Angeles Lakers basketball games and other programming. Print and restaurant ads are running in smaller markets.
The ads synch up Doner’s branding campaign for Del Taco that started back in 2008.
That campaign, dubbed “go bold or go home,” was designed to reflect the scrappy culture of Del Taco.
Del Taco is a distant No. 2 in its segment to biggie Taco Bell Corp. of Irvine. Del Taco has about 500 restaurants in 18 states
Taco Bell’s Fast Food Diet
Taco Bell’s latest advertising campaign has some crying foul and others chuckling.
The Mexican restaurant chain, part of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., is trying to capitalize on all those New Year’s resolutions to slim down.
In Taco Bell’s latest, the company debuted Christine Dougherty, who said she lost 54 pounds during two years by replacing her usual fast food lunch or dinner with an item from Taco Bell’s Fresco menu.
The Fresco menu has seven items, including a bean burrito and chicken soft taco. The items have salsa instead of cheese or sour cream.
Taco Bell also brought on Ruth Carey, a registered dietician from the National Basketball Association’s Portland Trail Blazers, to lend some credibility.
Taco Bell underscores that the menu isn’t a weight-loss program, even though the campaign has diet in the name.
The Irvine office of Chicago-based DraftFCB is handling the current campaign, which has divided dieticians. Some contend having healthier fast food is good. But others worry Taco Bell’s ads may mislead people about losing weight.
PR Pickup
Local public relations firms are seeing a pickup after 2009’s budget cuts.
Companies fresh from hibernating through last year’s downturn are looking to public relations campaigns to restart their marketing, according to executives.
“I will tell you that we have seen from both of our offices an uptick of new business calls,” said Hope Boonshaft, general manager of the Los Angeles and Irvine offices of New York-based Hill & Knowlton Inc., part of London-based WPP Group PLC.
It’s a dramatic change from the last year, when firms were forced to manage sudden budget cuts and watched clients drop off.
The renewed interest started in the fourth quarter, according to Boonshaft.
“Some were past clients who stopped work on various projects and want to resume or new clients looking optimistically to this year,” she said.
Businesses appear to be looking to expand their marketing budgets to spur sales and increase market share as the economy takes hesitant steps toward recovery, said Rebecca Hall, chief executive of Costa Mesa-based Idea Hall.
“We are starting to see people pull the trigger on (marketing plans), and that’s what we’re benefiting from,” she said.
Hall called public relations a leading indicator.
“When companies are planning on launching new products or services, the public relation firms and ad shops are the first to hear about it and get ready for it,” she said.
A number of local firms said social media is a larger portion of budgets and campaigns.
But Facebook, Twitter and other social media marketing sites still have to prove their staying power, said Daryl McCullough, chief executive at Irvine-based PainePR, part of Canada’s Cossette Communication Group Inc.
“There is a lot of chatter out there about whether or not social media is the PR Holy Grail,” he said. “Either way, you can’t deny that it’s a game changing kind of technology businesses can’t avoid anymore.”
Firms still are relying heavily on traditional public relation tactics, said Melinda Morgan Kartsonis, principal of Irvine-based Morgan Marketing & Public Relations LLC.
“Traditional media relations are still relevant,” she said. “Television, print and online editorial coverage have demonstrated upticks in business for several of our clients.”
