Title	BIG BELL
Brand	TACO BELL
Product/Service	TACO BELL
Category	A04. Travel, Leisure, Retail, Restaurants & Fast Food Chains
Entrant	EDELMAN London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	EDELMAN London, UNITED KINGDOM
PR	EDELMAN London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production	UNIT9 London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2	PRIORY POST London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 3	OFFSET AUDIO London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Mattias Ronge	Edelman UK	Chief Communication Officer
Stefan Ronge	Edelman UK	Chief Communication Officer
Anders Hallén	Edelman UK	Chief Innovation Officer
Jamie Cordwell	Edelman UK	Creative Director
Annabelle Bould	Edelman UK	Account Manager
Guen Murroni	Edelman UK	Agency Producer
Lucy Melling	Edelman UK	Managing Director
Jordan Atlas	Edelman US	Executive Creative Director
Julie Blakely	Edelman US	Associate Creative Director
Gabe Duran	Edelman US	Senior Copywriter
Anna Schultz	Edelman US	Junior Designer
Jill Knisley	Edelman US	Global Client Lead
Katie Brownstein	Edelman US	Account Supervisor

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

For Taco Bell, few things are as distinctive for the brand as their iconic Taco Bell Chime. When Big Ben was down for repair, we decided to resurrect the world-famous bell using the Taco Bell chime - while reminding the world about the quirky kind of humour that is so representative for the brand. It took a sound designer, a stealth directed speaker system to bring the experiential brand activation to life. But it was worth it.

background

Situation: Taco Bell had arrived in the UK but had not yet opened an outlet in London. Brief: Drive the mass awareness and buzz for Taco Bell's first London restaurant openings, in a way that felt relevant to Taco Bell but also to the everyday Londoner. Challenge: In food obsessed London, most people wouldn’t notice the arrival of another American food chain. Creating hype around the opening in a city where restaurants open every day was going to be a challenge. Not to mention the fact the Londoners are proudly territorial – it was going to take a charming and cheeky way-in to break through those stiff upper-lipped barriers! Objectives: • Create a launch moment to inspire intrigue and spark conversation (whilst epitomising Taco Bell's renowned sense of humour) • Secure positive media attention around the new restaurants and brand • Positively impact footfall for restaurants opening across the capital

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Big Ben – probably London’s most iconic landmark – was down for repairs. For four years, London would be missing the classic hourly chimes (known as The Westminster Quarters) which offer a soundtrack to the city. What a fantastic time for the world’s other great bell – Taco Bell – to make their first appearance in the capital. What if we could make Londoners believe – just for a moment – that their beloved Bell had sprung back to life?... If we could convincingly mimic the sound of Big Ben, capture the public’s bewilderment and create playful, sharable online content to reveal that is was in fact Taco Bell who had offered up their bell, we could have Londoners eating out of our, well, taco restaurants…

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Taco Bell’s brand is playful, cheeky and fun. The target audience (Londoners) are busy and immune to new restaurant openings which happen daily...but they have a great sense of humour. We wanted something epic to stop them in their tracks and get them smiling. In their typical quirky manner, Taco Bell created a humorous and attention-earning stunt which played on the tradition, stature and pomposity of London's heritage. Londoners had to be the key recipients of the message, experiencing the stunt in real time, leading to intrigue and suspense. The stunt was amplified via online film and targeted media outreach (earned and paid), so that the brand stunt was experienced by many more people those at the bell site itself. A full social strategy (including removing the bell logo from Taco Bell channels) meant that the ‘stunt’ was experienced via multiple touchpoints, in addition to live.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Authenticity of the Big Ben bell sound was paramount to the activation’s success. We enlisted the help of a professional sound engineer, to remaster Taco Bell’s jingle and imitate the famous Westminster chimes. Then, we created a camouflaged directed audio network, to build the illusion of the sound coming from thin air.…and hid those speakers in something every Londoner ignores…rickshaws. Then we played the bells, guerrilla-style, to passers-by and watched the surprise and confusion ensue. The stunt ran for an entire day in London, with the bells chiming every hour, on the hour. Embargoed releases of the stunt reveal increased the activation’s impact, and amplification via influencers and media gave the stunt global reach.

List the results (30% of vote)

Business Outcomes • Staff serving tacos non-stop for EIGHT HOURS on opening day, before there was a single gap in the queue (Hammersmith branch) • 70% more sales than UK average (Nov 18-Jan19) • 60% more transactions than UK average (Nov 18-Jan19) • 60% increase in unique users on the Taco Bell UK website over the campaign period • 71% increase in web sessions on the Taco Bell UK website Response Rate • 84% increase in online searches for Taco Bell, as compared with the previous week. • 40.7% increase in Taco Bell UK Instagram followers (main social platform) Media Impressions • 160 pieces earned UK media coverage (broadcast & articles) • Over 1.2 billion earned media impressions • 38.7M total reach from 62 distinct pieces of earned social coverage • 500,000+ reach from 40 separate influencer social posts • 30+ media persons in attendance at launch