A phone call you’ll always pick up after 1:00AM

There aren’t many phone calls that you’d be willing to answer at 1:00 a.m., but I guarantee you’d answer this call if it promised you $100 gift card to one of your favourite fast food restaurants via the Taco Bell Breakfast Phone contest.

Taco Bell was recently giving away “Taco Bell breakfast phones” to anyone who tweeted about their new breakfast menu. As part of their new breakfast menu launch, they chose 1,000 super fans that were Twitter influencers and mailed them a Samsung T404G from HipCricket, and called them the Taco Bell Breakfast Phone. These carefully selected breakfast phone holders received calls and texts messages from their phones that lead them to social media challenges with a chance to win some great prizes.

Cody Permenter from PR Daily actually participated in the social media contest and said that Taco Bell had warned him to keep his phone with him because it could ring at any time, especially when he is sleeping. He also goes on to state that each social media challenge was initiated by a phone call and a recorded message, instructing him to Tweet or Instagram the answer to a question or take part in creative challenges, like creating a Haiku about the Waffle Taco.

Each time he received a phone call or a text he was given 4 hours to complete the challenge given to him, then a certain amount of entries would be chosen to win prizes. The prizes ranged from absurd to just crazy amazing. Taco Bell gave out Waffle Taco air fresheners, Crunch Wrap bed sheets, Waffle-Taco button-downs, gift cards, and even a trip to California to visit a seaside Taco Bell. Who wouldn’t want any of these amazing prizes?

Soon people were absolutely obsessed over their “Taco Bell Breakfast phone.” The phone calls grew from only once a day to, two or three times a day and people were absolutely crazy about impressing the Taco gods! People were connected to the brand and the brand had a direct line straight into their pockets to connect back to their crazy taco lovers.

Taco Bell was very tactful in their approach and became more than just the average fast-food joint. Through this contest, they were able to personify themselves to their breakfast phone users. It’s almost as if they were your crush and you’re just hopelessly waiting by your phone until they text you or call you back, and you can’t help but feel excited and giddy every time they did. They created a connection through their contest and were able to generate a massive amount of user-generated content that came from this experience.

They have truly succeeded in doing something that many other brands have failed to do. They made their campaign personal and gained the respect of consumers and brand influencers everywhere. The Taco Bell Breakfast Phone was exciting and fun.

Good job Taco Bell, now let’s all gain 10 pounds and be proud of it.

Patricia Ferreira, Raven5 Ltd, Oakville, Ontario April 2014.

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