Essay On Taco Bell Advertising

Taco Bell is a fast food restaurant that was founded by Glen Bell in 1962. In a very competitive market for hamburgers, Glen went away from the trend and started his first Taco Bell restaurant in Downey, California where he had an immediate interest from people in the city. After the success that Glen had faced after opening up his restaurant, he was ready to let others benefit from his success and that is when the franchising of Taco Bell began. Five years after opening the first Taco Bell, PepsiCo won the right to Taco Bell and it then became a national corporation on Wall Street. Today, there are roughly 5,600 restaurants, 350 franchisees, and 150,000 employees that Taco Bell currently has and although Glen passed away in 2010, his franchise will be lived on through the taco forever (tacobell.com)

As Taco Bell sustained their success from the time they first opened, their advertising campaigns have transformed over the years. There were a total of seven slogans between 1976-1996 and each one did not last for more than six years. In 1997, Taco Bell changed “Spice Up The Night” to “Yo quiero Taco Bell”, and this is where I’ll begin the analysis. The Taco Bell talking Chihuahua became an instant hit when he was first introduced in July 1997. The creators of this advertising campaign explained that it was so successful because “we don’t treat the dog as a dog. We treat him as a 19-year old trapped in a dog’s body. He’s a cool character that happens to be a dog” (NY Times). The talking dog was not just a one trick pony after the first commercial he premiered in as he was in 15 commercials with roles that included taking on Godzilla and leading a revolution. The creators wanted the consumers to relate to the dog by wanting them have ...

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...ay a regular taco would be seen. Not only has Taco Bell created the Doritos Locos Tacos; they have also entered the breakfast industry and are showing to be a worthy competitor. The fast food breakfast market share has a lot of potential to grow with in the next couple of years and that means that these businesses will have to create bigger and better promotional strategies to capture the target market. With competitors such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Jack in the Box, and Dunkin Donuts, everybody’s market share is no longer safe and Taco Bell could be a legitimate threat in the long run. Their Mexican breakfast cuisine is the first to hit the market and only time will tell how successful they could be. It will be a competitive fast food dogfight for the next few years to gain the attention of consumers for breakfast with the market share being the ultimate prize.