Consumers more often connect chain restaurant Taco Bell with a talking Chihuahua than they do with innovation, says the company’s social media lead Nick Tran. But Tran and Taco Bell’s marketing team are doing their best to change that, in part by incorporating emerging mobile technologies into its marketing. Tran detailed Taco Bell’s use of augmented reality and 2-D bar codes during his presentation this week at Internet Retailer’s Mobile Marketing and Commerce Forum in San Diego.
“People forget that we are this entrepreneurial brand,” Tran said, noting that Taco Bell was the first Mexican fast-food chain, the first quick-service chain to offer free drink refills and the first to offer a value meal combo. In an effort to connect with Millennial-age consumers, a key market for the chain, it over the last two years ran several marketing campaigns that connected Taco Bell to the consumers through their mobile devices.