Drive-Thru Dreams - Adam Chandler Page 0,52
minute with a righteous, clandestine mission to be executed for God and Crunchwrap.
The unveiling of the phones alone not only captured intense media coverage, but brand devotees who had been left out also oozed online with insane jealousy. In spite of all the intrigue, most of the Breakfast Phone assignments were tasks in which Twitter or Instagram were used to promote Taco Bell breakfast. In texts and automated calls, users were implored to blast out videos, selfies, and other content to compete for limited-edition company swag with prizes for the winners ranging from a Taco Bell skateboard deck, bedsheets, and Waffle Taco Nikes to a few paid-for trips and free breakfast for a year. Despite a few operational quirks, the Breakfast Phone campaign with its fan collusion and inherent exclusivity seemed to be a success; images of long lines on the day of the debut were seen far and wide across digital platforms in pictures, tweets, check-ins, and videos.
But this tale of Taco Bell’s social media savvy doesn’t end with the debut of its breakfast. As the unwashed masses gathered for their Waffle Tacos on the East Coast, the company’s social insights team had gathered at 3:00 A.M. at the headquarters in Irvine, California, to monitor from afar how the first day of breakfast was going. Their command center is called the Fish Bowl, a high-tech chamber outfitted with a map that tracks the social media conversations about the chain (as well as its competitors). During the debut of breakfast, the Fish Bowl doubled as a situation room where the team worked for forty-eight hours straight to keep tabs on the newest campaign. “We launched at six A.M. East Coast time, and at about seven-thirty we started seeing emerging topics like ‘running out of eggs, long lines,’” Ben Miller, who headed up the social insights team at Taco Bell, told me on a visit to the Fish Bowl in 2016. “So we started digging in and realized we underprojected on how many people were going to come to the restaurants for breakfast so we were literally running out of eggs.” Next, the team called in Taco Bell’s chief of operations to show him the conversations, and soon enough operators and managers around the country were notified to get more eggs and call in more staff to prepare for the crowds. “Basically that conversation [about the shortages and long lines] stopped just past the Mississippi River,” Miller explained. “We were able to reforecast the projections for who was going to come into the stores for the morning.”
On less intense days, the social insights team looks for trending topics on social media and drives the company’s presence across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. These efforts are led by a squad of young workers and interns who know, with pinpoint accuracy, how long it will be before “raising the roof” or describing something good as “fierce” or “lit” or “dope” are no longer socially acceptable. This work involves much more than just being the gatekeepers of modern vernacular or dealing with irate customers; the social insights team creates custom content that places Taco Bell in the midst of ongoing conversations online, whether it’s about a popular new meme, something in the news, or the glory of a new product. The team also curates fan-generated stories on the Taco Bell website itself. “They’re very ingrained in the native platforms,” said Miller, “so anything that happens within those they’re pretty on point with.”
Whether it’s hamburgers, high-yield savings accounts, or mattresses, the social media accounts for most brands tend to be embarrassing. More than in traditional advertising, a company’s digital presence can often seem forced and unsure of itself. But because the identities of fast-food companies are so tied up in their menus, they have a built-in capacity to express themselves a little differently. Sometimes, it’s predictable and banal. Other times, it’s completely insane. McDonald’s, all-pleasing behemoth that it is, plays it safe on social media by deploying the voice of a cheerful corporation: “Mondays, am I right?” Unsurprisingly, Subway’s social presence is kind of bland. Both Burger King’s and Jack in the Box’s Twitter accounts tell a lot of terrible dad jokes, while Chick-fil-A’s feeds tend to be both family focused and extremely earnest. As regional chains, Whataburger and Bojangles’ tend to tweet disproportionately about local sports. Owing to its cultish, low-profile nature, In-N-Out rarely posts on social media and doesn’t even use Twitter. Perhaps knowing its target demo a little too well,