THE SOCIAL MEDIA REVOLUTION 519Taco Bell is an American chain of fast food restaurants serving more than 2 billion consumers each year in more
than 5800 restaurants in the USA. In the spring of 2012, Taco Bell teamed up with Frito Lay and created the Doritos
Locos Tacos. To draw attention to this novelty, Taco Bell used social media to push out live tweets to Taco Bell micro-
sites. Once a Doritos Locos Taco was experienced, the consumers were encouraged to tweet their excitement using
both #DoritosLacosTacos and #Contest. The tweet that got the most retweets could win a truck full of Doritos
Locos Tacos or one of the other prizes. Next to the prizes, the tweets (after user permission) could also be seen on
digital billboards located in Times Square and on Sunset Boulevard. A streaming camera allowed the action on each
billboard to be viewed on the Taco Bell website. Another set of cameras was co-ordinated to take pictures of tweets
on the billboards that were sent back to individual users. The positive user response of the campaign influenced the
targeted group who is very social-media-savvy and took special interest in seeing their tweets on digital billboards,
said the company. 147, 148BUSINESS INSIGHT
Your tweet on Times SquareM15_PELS3221_05_SE_C15.indd 519M15_PELS3221_05_SE_C15.indd 519 6/6/13 8:55 AM6/6/13 8:55 AM