As the biggest Taco fan in the world, Taco Bell had always dreamt of turning itself into a taco but the limits of reality had made it impossible. Snapchat's Lenses had launched with staggering levels of engagement and their "Sponsored Lenses" were just being introduced to adventurous advertisers. The brand saw an opportunity to harness the power of augmented reality and leverage Snapchat's cutting edge facial recognition technology to bring the idea of turning Snapchat fans into tacos and creating a fun/celebratory moment for Cinco De Mayo. To encourage use, the branding had to be intentionally subtle and not make the audience feel like they were being served an ad.

Over the course of 6 weeks, Taco Bell & Snapchat collaborated relentlessly in the pursuit of an as true to life Taco as possible complete with a proper corn tortilla filled with seasoned beef, sour cream, crispy lettuce, bright tomatoes, tasty cheese and of course a drizzling of Diablo Sauce when the fan raised their eyebrows. The challenge was to make sure the Taco Head looked as appetizing as possible. Branding elements were subtle with only a hand-drawn logo, the diablo sauce packet and the signature Bong SFX.

Given the Taco Head would only be live for 24hrs, Taco Bell wanted to make sure as many people experienced its first Lens as possible so it used a small amount of paid media on Twitter to announce the arrival of the lens while wishing everyone a happy Cinco De Mayo.

- Snapchat's Most Viewed Sponsored Lens to date

- 224 Million Views

- 12.5 years of total play time spent (across all users in 24hrs)

- Averaged 24 seconds of play time per user

- 48 Million Snapchatters reached

Staying authentic to the Snapchat platform was crucial in the development of Taco Bell's first lens. Given Taco Bell was a pioneer on the channel and considered to be one of the top branded accounts, it couldn't be heavy handed or "addy" in it’s paid advertisement approach. Contrary to how most brands position themselves in paid media placement, Taco Bell let the execution announce the permanent return of a fan favorite in Diablo sauce – not a giant sales driver by any means. Additionally, it was well documented that Snapchat fans were engaging more with the slightly odd/quirky lenses and to breakthrough as a brand, Taco Bell had to be comfortable in pushing away from a safe space. Last, given the celebratory/sharing mindset of Cinco De Mayo revelers, Taco Bell’s approach to the lens had to be a well-designed experience that was contextual/appropriate to the day itself.

Cinco De Mayo is the ultimate Mexican-inspired holiday and Taco Bell is the ultimate Mexican-inspired food. The day's cultural significance in the United States has skyrocketed with millenials as a “must celebrate” social/cultural experience in people’s lives not seen outside of St. Patty’s Day.

Taco Bell's annual challenge is to authentically contribute to Cinco De Mayo celebrations in the United States regardless if participants are hard core Taco Bell fans or not. The goal: place the brand at the apex of the cultural conversation for the day and transcend the typical "restaurant round ups" that dot the earned media landscape.