Fans responding with the Twitter hashtag #FriesChallenge helped to craft the storyline for this year’s entry, along with details like the kind of car Vanessa drives (a yellow sports car for the drive-through, and a dune buggy for the climatic desert chase scene out of “The Road Warrior”) and the name of her dog, “Baja.” Taco Bell boasts 1.9 million followers on Twitter.
As with virtually all fast-food promotions today, this one leans into benefits for consumers who use Taco Bell's app or website to order ahead. Members of its digital loyalty club are getting early access to the item, beginning today. They can also receive free al a carte nacho fries March 24-26 with a minimum $1 purchase when they use the app. Nacho fries go on sale to all consumers March 10 for a suggested price of $1.49 a la carte, or $5.49 for a Nacho Fries Box including the fries, a beefy 5-layer burrito, a crunchy taco and a medium drink. Grubhub will offer free nacho fries with delivery from March 27 until April 13.
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Taco Bell execs have called nacho fries the chain’s most successful limited-time menu item, with as many as a fourth of all consumers including them with their orders when available. The fries are not chips but crispy potato fries covered in taco seasoning with nacho cheese dipping sauce.
“We’ve explored tons of genres for Nacho Fries over the years, but this may be my favorite yet because it gave our most loyal fans a front-row seat to co-create one of our biggest fan-led campaigns ever,” said Tracee Larocca, head of brand creative. “With the bar set this high, who knows where we’ll take Nacho Fries next.”