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Strategy May 09, 2024

Sauce Packet Proposals & Baja Blast Champagne Flutes: Inside Taco Bell-Branded Weddings

These types of experiential events are on the rise, and they’re augmented with creative branded merchandise.

By  Brendan Menapace

If you’re getting married in Las Vegas, chances are you have some sort of theme incorporated.

Maybe you have an Elvis impersonator doing the officiating. Maybe you’re in a Cheetos-themed ceremony that isn't legally binding.

Or maybe you love Taco Bell so much that you wanted all of the decorations, the apparel, the food and the general vibe taken care of by the Bell. At the Taco Bell Cantina restaurant in Sin City, people can get just that.

Taco Bell

Credit: Getty Images by Dave Kotinsky

Taco Bell-branded weddings are not exactly a new phenomenon, but they’ve been gaining traction on social media as people are sharing some of the details, like sauce packets with messages printed on them. It turns out, those sauce packets are how a lot of people had been proposing, and that’s what, in part, inspired Taco Bell to get this program running.

These sorts of experiential displays are growing in popularity in the promo space, especially post-COVID. People, particularly younger audiences, want things they remember doing, not just products they receive. Yes, those are great, too, and play a role in the whole campaign.

However, it’s the attention to detail to capture a brand’s aesthetic and messaging that enhances programs for everything from musicians to a fast-food wedding.

Matt Prince, head of public relations and marketing for Taco Bell, shared a bit of the story behind Taco Bell weddings, and how the quick service food chain chose the particular print, promo, packaging and food items to complete the experience.

“It’s such a memorable occasion,” Prince said. “You want to have mementos that tie back to these special days, whether you’re a part of the wedding or whether you’re attending. So, I think what makes Taco Bell Weddings really special is that you have so many of the kinds of pieces of what makes a traditional wedding special mixed with the fun and the unique aspects of doing it inside of a Taco Bell.”

Indeed, at the end of the day, this is a wedding. It still needs to be a functioning ceremony for the couple and their guests. Taco Bell wasn’t reinventing the wedding, just putting “a little bit of Taco Bell spin on it,” as Prince shared.

For the couples, this means a gift set that includes T-shirts with “Mr.” and “Mrs.” on them, Baja Blast champagne flutes, and other food items.

The sauce packets play an important role, too. There are sauce packet ties, a sauce packet bouquet that the bride can hold, and messaging written on the packets themselves referencing the fact that people actually have used them in their real-life proposals.

“It was common enough for us to kind of take notice,” Prince said of the sauce packet proposals.

They weren’t always legally binding proposals. Sometimes they were just “promposals” where kids find elaborate ways to ask a date to prom.

“All of these aspects were really the epitome of brand love, and the role that brand plays in the consumer’s life,” Prince asserted. “This is, you know, arguably one of the most impactful days of their life, and they’re integrating our brand into it, which is really special.”

The lesson for a promotional products distributor who wants to make a campaign immersive is to leave no flat surface alone. Try to look at every item involved in the setup as a branding opportunity. Is there a place for an imprint? Can you integrate something about the brand like a color motif or famous product into the experience somewhere? A keen attention to detail can take a promotional campaign from ordinary to extraordinary.