Taco Bell’s Super Bowl ad will feature customers, not celebrities

Instead of a celebrity, Taco Bell is looking to its customers to star in its Super Bowl spot. Taco Bell’s 30-second ad will feature photos of real customers, captured via special drive-thru cameras. The ad is slated to run in the third quarter of the Feb. 9 game on Fox. Super Bowl commercials Tracking the latest brand and agency plans Click here The “Live Más Drive Thru-Cams” will be set up for a few days this month at select locations in Los Angeles; Houston; Middleburg Heights, Ohio; Cookeville, Tennessee; and Wauchula, Florida. To join in, customers will need to sign up for Taco Bell Rewards, open the app and log in, and proceed through the drive-thru. At the end of the drive-thru, those who want to participate can stop and scan a QR code to initiate a photo countdown, which takes a series of six photos of both the driver and passenger sides of the car. The photos will be emailed to customers, who can opt in to have them considered for use in Taco Bell’s Super Bowl ad. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Taco Bell (@tacobell) The spot will be produced in partnership with Biite, an agency that works with food brands and was also behind Taco Bell’s live Apple-style keynote event at the beginning of the year. Edelman, Spark Foundry, The Syndicate, Deeplocal and Cycle / Laundry Service will also contribute to the campaign. Taco Bell is the second brand to turn to its fandom for inspiration for its upcoming Big Game spot. Doritos is bringing back its “Crash the Super Bowl” contest for 2025, giving contestants a toolkit of music, logos and other brand assets to make the chip brand’s 30-second Super Bowl ad. The winner will receive $1 million and an all-expenses paid trip to the game in New Orleans. Taco Bell’s last Super Bowl spot came in 2022 and featured Doja Cat. The 2025 Super Bowl spot comes as Taco Bell has been doing well. Yum Brands previously reported that Taco Bell’s third-quarter same-store sales were up 4%, while sibling chains KFC and Pizza Hut posted 4% declines. (Competitor Chipotle’s comparable sales were up 6% in the same quarter.) “Every day in our drive-thrus we see moments that are so uniquely ‘our fans’ - the moments, the memories, and the energy that makes Taco Bell who we are,” Taylor Montgomery, Taco Bell’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “That’s why, for our return to football’s biggest stage, we’re sidelining the celebrities and turning the camera on the fans who already make Taco Bell what it is.” Read Ad Age’s Best of 2024 stories here

Taco Bell’s Super Bowl ad will feature customers, not celebrities

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