For years, Taco Bell has fostered a relationship with one of the most disruptive players in the NFL, Davante Adams. His one partnership condition was that he wanted a Taco Bell franchise in his house. After years of some mild gaslighting of both our and Davante’s fans, we successfully convinced many people that the Taco Bell in his house is real. It’s become an inside joke amongst fans to bring up Taco Bell anytime Davante plays or has a big moment in sports culture.
So when rumors began circling that Davante may potentially be leaving Las Vegas for a new NFL home, it didn’t take long for another question to surface: What’s going to happen to the Taco Bell in his house? We knew we wanted to acknowledge the social conversation happening, and turn a few funny tweets into a larger brand moment.
The minute we saw the trade speculation conversation pop up online, along with fans making the connection between Davante moving and his current home with a Taco Bell inside, we got to work immediately. We created an Opendoor listing for the infamous house, worked with Opendoor to get the listing up, and also posted a TikTok of Davante giving an AD-inspired home tour video.
We were able to find the perfect sweet spot between Taco Bell’s fan base, Davante’s fan base, general internet culture, and best practices to turn a few fun tweets into a cultural moment.
Fans speculated on whether this was real, asked how to actually buy his house, and wondered if he would be searching for a house on the East Coast that also offered a Taco Bell inside.
Within 24 hours, our cryptic tweet racked up over three million views, gaining major press coverage from outlets like Bleacher Report, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and Today.com. It took nothing more than a spark to fuel the fandom. No media buy needed.
We reacted in real time, which gave people even more reason to talk about Davante Adams and Taco Bell, while showing both the sports community and Taco Bell fans that we were part of culture alongside them.
Our real-time tweet received over 3 million views in 24 hours. With our live listing, we were able to drive traffic to the Taco Bell app where visitors could order a customized Davante Adams Crunchwrap. This reactive moment also allowed us to enter conversations and publications we aren’t normally in like Bleacher Report, Realtor.com, and ESPN.
