Taco Bell announced Tuesday the release of their new $5 Build Your Own Cravings Box: a customizable combo deal available across digital platforms that lets customers choose one menu item from five different categories. Customers build their own box from options in each category including specialty items like the Crunchwrap Supreme and Chalupa Supreme; starters like a beefy five-layer burrito, soft taco and bean and cheese burrito; side dish choices of either chips and nacho cheese or Cinnamon Twists; and any available fountain drinks from Pepsi products to Mtn. Dew Baja Blast.
The Build Your Own Cravings Box will be available to Taco Bell rewards members on Feb. 2 and to all digital customers starting Feb. 11. Customization is the name of the game here: Customers can tweak items or make them vegetarian by substituting meat for beans in any of the options.
“Taco Bell customers tend to rebel anything that’s convention and there’s so much creativity we see in terms of how they customize the orders they create as a badge of honor,” Nikki Lawson, chief brand officer for Taco Bell, told Nation’s Restaurant News. “We see it a lot on social media; customers advocate just as hard for products they love as they do for the brand. […] Taco Bell has always had a strong value proposition for consumers, and this merges the best of our heritage with the best of our future.”
The best of their future includes a fresh new perspective on social media marketing campaigns. For the Cravings Box, instead of relying on celebrity partnerships to talk about their personal favorite Cravings Box combination, Taco Bell is partnering with Gen. Z celebrities and TikTokers like Noah Centineo, influencer Nava Rose, K-Pop star CL, and drag queen Onyx Black to remind Taco Bell fans to “never settle for someone else’s tastebuds.”
“We want to make sure our customers know that just because we’re serving it in a box doesn’t mean we are putting them in a box,” Lawson said. “Some corporations see customers as nameless, faceless individuals, we want them to realize that just because celebrities love the brand and our products, does not mean their choices are more important than yours.”
The Cravings Box won’t stay static either: Taco Bell plans to keep innovating and offering new evolutions of items offered in the future, especially as the brand brings back ingredients from pandemic-era menu trimming, like potatoes. They also plan to keep the party going in the social media sphere with challenges and hashtags designed for fan interaction in the future.
“No one likes being the hard-selling marketing techniques,” Lawson said. “Consumers are far more sophisticated than that. We need to this opportunity to be a positive and entertaining part of their lives.”
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