Wedding (taco) bells are ringing with Taco Bell’s first official event in the metaverse: the Yum Brands quick-service chain is holding a contest to host a virtual wedding this fall in the metaverse. The lucky couple will be able to tie the knot in the Ethereum blockchain-backed Decentraland metaverse and will receive wedding attire for their avatars, Taco Bell swag, and a party in virtual reality (or live-streamed for the technologically averse).
The contest will be held Aug. 25 through Sept. 6 and is the next chapter in Taco Bell’s wedding packages, which debuted in 2017 at the Cantina in Las Vegas and has since married a Vegas-appropriate 777 couples over five years. The wedding event this fall will include a ceremony, first dance, drinks lounge, photobooth, and an opportunity to participate in a virtual “challenging quest.”
“We’re always looking for new ways to meet our fans where they already are and provide them with signature Taco Bell experiences… even when that’s in the metaverse,” Sean Tresvant, Taco Bell’s chief brand officer said in a statement. “By bringing the metaverse wedding to life and adding layers of the brand’s Live Más mentality, the couple and attendees will be able to up the ante on their love for each other and the brand they love too.”
Couples can submit a video entry via Instagram, Tik Tok or Twitter with the hashtag #TacoBellMetaverseWeddingContest and tag @tacobell to enter. And while the virtual wedding event itself will be invite-only (wedding guests will receive NFT invitations), the celebration will still be a marketing opportunity for Taco Bell because fans can hang out in the Cantina and public reception room in Decembraland to access the public part of the celebration.
Yum Brands first submitted trademark applications for the metaverse in March, though until now, the company has not made too much of a splash in Web 3.0 (Taco Bell developed its own line of NFTs in 2021 and Pizza Hut launched a brief experience in May at the virtual event, Complexland, which gave fans the chance to win free pizza for a year).
Beyond the virtual wedding, the Taco Bell virtual Cantina in Decentraland will continue to live on after the event as fans will be able to “interact with the brand in new, innovative ways” within the metaverse.
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