BuzzFeed’s creative team worked with Mexican fast food restaurant Taco Bell to create sponsored posts based on the theme of not sharing. With the rise of social media many people share multiple aspects of the lives and Taco Bell took advantage of this trend.
Case study summary
• Taco Bell raised awareness of its new item on its specialities menu with sponsored content on BuzzFeed’s media platform
• The sponsored adverts were themed around the idea of not sharing and ironically hovered over the social sharing buttons on the BuzzFeed website
• Intent to purchase was increased by 195.9% for viewers who discovered the campaign via social media sharing sites
Challenge
In 2012 Taco Bell launched the “Loaded Griller” to their specialities menu – a snack designed for one with the tag line “perfectly priced and too good to share”. To build on Taco Bell’s online content they enlisted BuzzFeed to help them raise awareness of the new product.
The solution
In order to increase awareness of the launch of the “Loaded Griller” BuzzFeed and Taco Bell created fun sponsored posts based on the theme of not sharing. Social media sharing buttons can be found on most web pages, normally Taco Bell would encourage users to share related content.
However for this campaign Taco Bell wanted to highlight that not everything needs to be shared especially the “Loaded Griller”. The sponsored posts hovered over social media sharing icons on BuzzFeed’s media platform reminding readers that not everything needs to be shared.
Results
The impact of the campaign was tracked to evaluate how the content changed users’ perceptions. The study measured purchase intent and brand affinity. The results were aggregated based on if a viewer had been exposed to the content via paid media, social sharing or if they had no exposure at all.
The results proved that everyone who was exposed to Taco Bell’s sponsored content had an increased awareness and intention to buy a Loaded Griller. These results were amplified if the viewer had seen the content through social sharing i.e. on Facebook, Twitter etc. For example if content was discovered through social sharing channels viewers were 195.9% more likely to indicate they would consider trying, can’t wait to try, or had already tried the product.
