SOMETHING PEOPLE ACTUALLY LOVE: LAUNCHING 50 MILLION CRUNCHWRAPS
The Crunchwrap launch was my very first project for Taco Bell. The engineers in TB’s famous Innovation Kitchen had designed a hexagon shape that solved the messiness of hard shell tacos, specifically while driving.
The Strategy was Classic Tastes, Good to Go. We set the first spot at a tech convention. They loved the idea of equating it with a small device (cast your mind back to iPods, Blackberries and Palm Pilots).
The CMO at the time made the Crunchwrap a chapter his book. Chefs have done entire Crunchwrap menus written up in the New York Times. The New Yorker wrote a 2023 story chronicling its invention, and quoting our campaign.
The Lesson: even an all-timer of an idea in the category can benefit from being explained or demonstrated in a memorably entertaining way.
Yes I came up with “Good to Go” and what we called the “Hand Thing.” Our guy had a whole cinematic universe, and even went to the Super Bowl.
The Results: 51 million sold in the first six weeks. Named Product of the Year by Nation’s Restaurant News. The food critic Adam Richman suggested the Crunchwrap’s inventor should be nominated for a Nobel Prize.
The Crunchwrap is the fastest-selling item in Taco Bell history, and the best selling of all time (not the Doritos Taco, for your information). To this day Taco Bell sells more than 100 million Crunchwraps a year.
