Taco Bell's Breakfast Endorser: Ronald McDonald

Chain's Biggest Campaign Uses Real People Who Share Name of Category Leader's Mascot

That's what Taco Bell is saying in its campaign introducing its biggest menu rollout to date. The Mexican food chain located a slew of actual Ronald McDonalds and got them to proclaim their love for the breakfast menu in its ads. And the fast feeder clearly isn't clowning around: Taco Bell says the marketing campaign will be the biggest in its 50-plus year history.

The TV spots central to the campaign are a blatant poke at McDonald's, the biggest player in breakfast by a wide margin, without an actual mention of the category kingpin. "It's not surprising these guys are loving Taco Bell's new Waffle Taco," says the voice-over in one ad. "What is surprising is who they are." Then the Ronald McDonalds introduce themselves.

The commercials were created by Interpublic's Deutsch, Los Angeles, and begin airing March 27. The spots include a disclaimer that the Ronald McDonalds in the spots are not affiliated with McDonald's Corp. in any way and were individually selected as paid endorsers of Taco Bell breakfast.

Taco Bell President Brian Niccol said the strategy is to turn heads and make the chain stand out in a sea of sameness. "This is about getting people to understand that there's a great alternative to their breakfast routine. There are lot of competitors [at breakfast]. Even the advertising all looks the same, and it's hard to distinguish one breakfast sandwich from another. We needed marketing that is not going to be taken as your ordinary breakfast-menu marketing."

He declined to detail how much the chain is spending on the push but noted that it will be bigger than its Doritos Locos Tacos launch. Taco Bell's parent company, Yum Brands, spent about $280.3 million on U.S. measured media in the first nine months of 2013, according to Kantar Media.

McDonald's did not return calls for comment by deadline.

Taco Bell will also be making the morning-show rounds, with appearances on shows like Fox and Friends. Other marketing tactics will include social media, which Taco Bell has invested heavily in, along with apps like Instagram. In the last week the chain has been promoting the launch in unorthodox ways; for example it sent 1,000 prepaid disposable phones to "fans" to go on "brand missions," asking them to post photos on Instagram or tweet posts related to Taco Bell and get rewarded various breakfast-related gifts. That phone promotion was created by Taco Bell and Publicis Groupe's DigitasLBi, the chain's digital agency. Interpublic's FCBhandled in-store marketing and packaging.

The Ronald McDonalds spots will likely air for the next four weeks, with more coming later. Mr. Niccol said that the company will be marketing breakfast for the remainder of the year.

It's not all that common for brands to call competitors out directly in advertising -- so when they do, consumers take notice, said Derek Rucker, professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "The fact that they're making this aggressive play is likely to generate a lot of stir, especially on social media, so you can see their motivation," he said.

Mr. Rucker noted, however, that the success of the campaign will hinge on how it is received. "Instead of talking just about your brand, you're talking about two brands, and consumers can view calling a competitor out as everything from entertaining to inappropriate," he said. "It's a strategy that clearly has advantages."

Taco Bell has been testing breakfast since early 2012, and the rollout is certainly well-timed. Breakfast in 2013 logged its fourth consecutive year of growth for restaurants, while lunch and dinner continue to decline. In 2013, 12.5 billion breakfast visits (which accounts for about 21% of all restaurant visits in the U.S.), were made to U.S. foodservice outlets, up 3% from 2012. Lunch and dinner visits at restaurants declined 1% in 2013, according to NPD.

Fast food, which accounts for 80% of total restaurant morning meals, showed the strongest growth, with a 4% increase over the prior year. And the forecast looks good: NPD estimates that fast-food breakfast will grow a cumulative 9% over the next nine years. By comparison, the industry overall is expected to grow less than a half a percent each year for the next 10 years.

Because breakfast is the only area of growth for the restaurant industry, fast feeders like McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, Burger King and Subway have been ramping up their breakfast menus and marketing.

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