Taco Bell blacked out its Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube in order to launch its mobile ordering app. After several months of planning Taco Bell is the first company to do a pre-ordering and mobile payment system on this scale. Other chains like McDonalds have tested mobile ordering and payment systems.
“We wanted to make sure that the message broke through. There are thousands of apps that launch every day,” said Tressie Lieberman, senior director of digital marketing and platforms at Taco Bell. “We are a brand of firsts. We like to do things that have never been done before.”
“You’ll be able to order products that no one else can,” Tressie Lieberman, senior director of digital marketing and platforms at Taco Bell, told USA Today. The fast food chain plans to launch a loyalty program early next year for its frequent customers. If you’ve already got Taco Bell’s app installed on your Android or iOS device, expect to see an update that adds mobile ordering very soon.
Taco Bell just wiped out its entire Twitter history ahead of today’s big announcement. @TacoBell has gone dark. pic.twitter.com/Qx5XTmDK8X
— Chris Welch (@chriswelch) October 28, 2014
The company and its agency Digitas worked with Twitter to “blackout” its Twitter presence. There is now a @tacobell account with zero followers and a separate, protected account called @totallynothere that has the 1.4 million followers from the original account.
The only tweet visible on the @tacobell account now is a link to download the new app.
Taco Bell has made smart moves to ensure their app is hyped and that they have created the best mobile experience. Tell us if you’ll use the mobile ordering app with Taco Bell, and if you want more fast food chains to create similar apps.
I personally love the idea Taco Bell has but sooner or later every fast food chain will have an app that will require a lot of screen space. I don’t want to have six different mobile ordering apps that all achieve the same thing but from different stores. One unified app like the one Square is developing would be helpful.