A Yum! Brands company, Taco Bell, has always been on the news for its captivating slogans. Besides their yummilicious taco toppings, the company has made headlines because of the value it provides to both its customers and employees. Diversity, collaboration, innovation, and creativity are the core values of Taco Bell that even its marketing slogan stands up to.
The current Taco Bell slogan reads as “Live Mas”, meaning ‘Live More’, underlines the company’s principle to provide immeasurable value to its people.
This slogan came into existence in 2012 after completing 50 years in the industry. Before, it was “Think Outside the Bun” – another impressive slogan that was well-loved by everyone. It was launched in 2004 and created quite a stir in the marketing world.
Let’s dig deeper into the history of Taco Bell slogans, and their role in making the brand what it is today!
“Live Mas” – Beyond the Marketing Perspective
A successful organization is not all about its products/services. It’s the value that the company lives up to, and the Taco Bell slogan perfectly defines the same. The company is known and loved for being considerate with its working population besides providing the most value for their customers’ money.
As revealed by Liz Williams, the former president of Taco Bell International, the company stayed in touch even with people, who left the company. Many of them also returned, thus ensuring a highly encouraging and collaborative work culture.
“Live Mas” is thus a phrase that represents the company’s cultural values, along with their services.
There’s another meaning that attributed to the tagline. “Live Mas” or “Live More” defines food as an experience, and not just a product. From classic Mexican-styled items to more non-traditional ones, dining at Taco Bell is no less than an exemplary experience. Besides, there are special Taco Bell rewards that offer access to exclusive items or new products. The restaurant also offers limited-time deals with special twists, which makes it one of the go-to restaurants for Mexican food lovers.
“Live Mas” holds on to this philosophy that underlines the overall experience that customers have at Taco Bell. It’s a kind of lifestyle branding, a shift from the regular product-based branding that most restaurants and diners opt for.
Popularity of Taco Bell Slogan – Live Mas
The tagline was launched on the 50th anniversary of Taco Bell at the NBA All-Star Saturday Night in 2012. It marked some new additions, like FirstMeal in breakfast, Doritos Locos Tacos, and Chef Special Cantina Bell, to its exclusive menu. The new Taco Bell slogan has some mixed reactions on social media, but thankfully, most of them were positive.
Source : Event Marketer
The slogan also encouraged other brands to experiment with their existing marketing strategies. When the brand ranked at the topmost position on DigitalCoco’s Restaurant Social Media Index, over competitors, like McDonalds, Wendy’s, and even Starbucks, in 2013, many companies started taking note of it. There was also a whopping 42% increase in the brand’s social media growth, especially on Facebook. According to branding experts, the tagline played a major role in Taco Bell’s social media success.
The Live Mas slogan emphasized the youthful voice of the brand, and successfully did it. Today, the tagline stands not only for the customers’ experience at Taco Bell but also its employees, who keep returning even after leaving the company. In other words, the slogan has a wholesome existence, defining the core values of the company undoubtedly.
“Think Outside the Bun” – Taco Bell Slogan (2004-2012)
The slogan was coined by an advertising agency, Wieden+Kennedy in 2002. The company was hired by Taco Bell to help rebrand as an innovative and contemporary fast-food chain in the US. The slogan was a result of constant brainstorming and research, ultimately launched in an advertising campaign in 2004.
“Think Outside the Bun” perfectly described Taco Bell’s avant-garde menu that contained exclusive items, pushing the limits of traditional Mexican cuisines. A careful replacement of words of the common phrase – outside the box – that emphasizes innovation, the Wieden+Kennedy created one of the most popular slogans of all time.
It goes without saying that the Taco Bell slogan was a major hit, almost instantly, across all platforms. The tagline became a key part of the brand’s identity and raised storms in TV commercials, bill boards, printed posters, and the social media. Some of Taco Bell’s new products, like Nacho Fries and Crunchwrap Supreme were also launched as a part of this campaign.
Relevance of Taco Bell slogan – “Think Outside the Bun”
The slogan is a kind of reminder to all Taco Bell customers that the company is on its toes, trying to meet their expectations always. It stands for the brand’s quality to innovate without compromising their classic Mexican dishes.
“Think Outside the Bun” was a direct call-out to the Taco Bell customers to try the new items on their menu. Every time a customer sees the tagline, s/he would probably think of trying something new besides their regular favorites. And that’s exactly the reaction that Taco Bell aspired for.
The slogan also represented the brand’s mission to deliver something unique to its customers to keep their experience fresh and rewarding always. It was also a reminder that the brand wasn’t afraid to experiment with either its menu, or its advertising campaigns.
There’s also an alleged, secret meaning of the slogan regarding its internal work environment. According to some people, “Think Outside the bun” was a silent encouragement to Taco Bell employees to keep pushing boundaries. Success is achieved by people, who gets out of their comfort zones, and the phrase emphasized this belief. Inspired by the Taco Bell slogan, its employees felt motivated to come up with new ideas to serve the people, create innovative recipes, and make a difference. Hence, it cannot be called a ‘branding slogan’ only. “Think Outside the Bun” became an integral part of the company’s culture, representing its core values.
Past Slogans of Taco Bell and their Meanings
Before the two back-to-back captivating Taco Bell slogans, there were others that helped the company rise the ladder of branding success. Here’s a list of the past slogans of Taco Bell along with their alleged meanings and significance:
The Fresh Food Palace (1978-1982) – It highlighted the freshness of its menu, which is a staple for the restaurant.
It Hurts My Buns (1982-1984) – In a bold manner using dark humor, the restaurant described its foods that sometimes felt too full to even hurt your “buns” (urban slang term for buttocks).
Ooh! What a difference! (1983-1984) – Well, it is, indeed! The Taco Bell food was a step higher than traditional Mexican cuisines without losing their classic charm.
It’s just made for you (1984-1986) – It’s a simplistic slogan describing the level of personalization that the restaurant offered in its menu.
The Cure for The Common Meal (1986-1987) – Of course, this slogan meant that Taco Bell exclusive menu is a break from the boring, regular meals.
Hello Taco Bell. (1986-1988) – A simple, not-so-important slogan that was around for some time.
Make A Run for the Border/Run for the Border (1988-1994) – The tagline aspired to nudge the customers to rush to the restaurant and grab their delicious food and limited-time deals. It flaunted a tone of urgency, playfulness and fun, to create excitement.
Yo Quiero Taco Bell (1997-2001) – It meant “I want Taco Bell” in Spanish, which clearly radiates confidence and innovation on the brand’s part. Using the Spanish phrase, Taco Bell managed to grab the attention of Spanish-speaking customers, besides creating a sync with its Mexican food tradition.
Fun Fact: In the advertisement that featured this slogan, Taco Bell employed a Chihuahua as its mascot. It’s a cute breed from Mexico, thus aligning to the core value of the restaurant that offered Mexican food.
Branding Lessons to Learn from Taco Bell Slogans
There are quite a few things that you can learn from the past and current slogans of Taco Bell, a popular and well-loved Mexican food chain in the US. Just like their menu, the brand has always been innovative in their advertising strategies, be it using Spanish phrases in its taglines, or a Chihuahua to utter the slogan.
Some amazing lessons you can learn from the restaurant’s branding strategies are:
- The fun element is necessary – Taco Bell slogans have always been entertaining and fun, intriguing many customers to visit the fast food joint at least for the experience of it.
- Innovation is success – The more you innovate your services and products, the closer you’ll get to success. People have so many options these days. You need to keep your scores high always.
- Radiate positivity as much as possible – Be the ‘vibe’ that your customers love. Taco Bell has set the bar high in terms of positive vibes with the help of their amazing slogans, e.g., “Live Mas”.
- Play with languages – You can employ multiple linguistics in your branding slogan and play with it to create attractive phrases. However, make sure that those are relevant to your audience, e.g., Taco Bell uses Spanish words to appeal to their Spanish-speaking customers, as the restaurant is about classic and contemporary Mexican dishes.
- Push boundaries – Like the former Taco Bell slogan said – “Think Outside the Bun”.
Over to You
The Taco Bell slogans have been as unique as its menu, coming up with new stuff always. Using humor as its base tone, the captivating taglines have managed to create a stir with every campaign launch. The former tagline – “Think Outside the Box” raised the standards of branding to a whole new level. The current one – “Live Mas” – is a Spanish phrase that means “Live More” and highlights the core values of the company as a whole.
If you are trying to create a marketing slogan that will have a lasting impact on your audience, you can take some lessons from Taco Bell’s enriched slogan history. Who knows you may be the next in line to creating a timeless slogan!