They’ve done the bouncing bikini babes on the beach thing. Then they took a stab at rival Taco Bell by showing a talking Chihuahua driving through their takeout window in the back of a limousine. And finally, they politely agreed to pull the plug on their squash-buckling masked hero whose resemblance to Zorro ticked off the folks at Universal Pictures.
Now Laguna Hills-based Del Taco Inc. is poking fun at itself.
G & M; Plumbing in Los Angeles is behind the latest push with a spot released in April featuring a fictional Del Taco employee named Dan who is the one man responsible for research and development (that role’s actually done by Melinda Bustos, and she came from Taco Bell). The latest? A new spot this week to launch a new, meatier taco product, the 99-cent “Ultimate Taco” , two ounces of beef and sour cream inside a larger white shell with a new chunkier sauce.
Now if this isn’t a case of d & #233;j & #341; vu: First Zorro, now Evel Knievel. The latest 30-second TV spot features a parody of the famous motorcycle stuntman.
“We rented the costume from the studio that made the movie (about Evel Knievel), but we are not calling him Evel Knievel,” said Tim Hackbardt, Del Taco’s vice president of marketing. (Of course, Del Taco didn’t call their masked man Zorro either, but look where that got them).
“He’s a generic daredevil riding a unicycle,” Hackbardt said. “There’s no jumping.”
Instead, the wannabe stuntman attempts to ride a unicycle on a tightrope blindfolded. The voiceover: “Here at Del Taco, we don’t have a big media budget, so our commercials have to be memorable, which is why we hired this daredevil to help us promote our new Ultimate Taco.”
And then there are two smaller 10- and 15-second spots spoofing the company’s recent legal dilemma: “At Del Taco, we created the best taco out there, but legally we can’t say that. You know how lawyers are.”
The latest campaign includes advertising inside Del Taco restaurants created by Red Monkey Ads and Ideas in Portland, Ore.
But that’s not all. Del Taco is hoping its customers will pig out on its latest burger featuring, you guessed it, bacon strips.
“We didn’t test it,we are just rolling it out and betting that people will like bacon on their burgers,” Hackbardt said.
DGWB Snags SCP Account
South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa has hired DGWB Advertising to handle its estimated $3 million to $4 million advertising account, replacing Capella Salazzo in Los Angeles, said Debra Gunn Downing, marketing director.
She described the agency’s pitch as “hip,so different from anything we have done.” The center was searching for a mid-range local agency with billings of about $80 million to $100 million. The agency will launch the new campaign in January 2001. Downing met with several agencies including Newport Beach-based Heil-Brice Retail Advertising, as well as Houston Helm Fattell and Partners Squared, both in Los Angeles. DGWB will handle print work for newspapers, magazines, direct mail, outdoor and center signage. The center also publishes about seven catalogs annually but will scale back production to about four issues.
Larson to Energize Hansen’s
The Larson Group in Irvine has been named agency of record to market a line of energy drinks for Corona-based beverage company Hansen’s Natural Corp. The company, which makes natural beverages and smoothies, nearly doubled its overall ad budget last year spending mostly in newspapers, outdoor, radio and some spot TV, according to Competitive Media Reporting. The energy drink line is endorsed by Chicago Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa. The ad shop will handle creative and media planning for radio, print, outdoor and in-store displays for the Hansen’s energy drink line as well as building brand in Southern California, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and south Florida.
PCMA Goes Golfing
PCMA Inc., publisher of 50,000-circulation Board Room magazine,an international business-to-business publication that targets owners, board members and operators of private and semi-private golf and country clubs,recently launched a second industry publication called DailyFee Golf. It counts a circulation of 12,500. The magazines are sold by subscription only. They have 48 pages and are put together by a staff of five, said Jody Marquez Wood, editor of both publications. Additionally, the four-year-old company moved its headquarters from Laguna Beach to San Juan Capistrano.
Johnson Gray Goes Hollywood
Johnson Gray Advertising Inc., Newport Beach, is taking steps to grow its $19 million business with the recent hiring of Sarah V. Pickell in the newly created position of director of business development. Pickell has worked for the past seven years for the Walt Disney Co. where she was manager of strategic marketing for Disney’s California Adventure Theme park and the Disneyland Resort.
The ad shop plans to venture deeper into e-commerce and has made two other new hires: studio manager Tamela Klisura and web designer Penny Welton. Receptionist Erica Konyak moves up to account coordinator.
“We are experts in healthcare, that’s what we are good at,” said Reagan Gray, principal. “But we want to diversify and get into entertainment through online marketing.”
