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Who Stole Taco Bueno's Fried Chicken Tacos Made With Mike's Hot Honey?
We'll soon find out in this ad-within-an-ad
Some whodunits are almost impossible for viewers to solve. This isn’t one of them.
To boost its collab with Mike’s Hot Honey, Texas chain Taco Bueno stages a shouty, amusing ad-within-an-ad via The Infinite Agency.
Seems the Honey Fried Chicken tacos have gone missing. The faux-director freaks out, but there’s precious little mystery afoot.
“We sought out to grab attention by scratching the needle on a traditional TV spot, then breaking the fourth wall with a behind-the-scenes look at the chaos, and paying off the crave-ability of the new taco and the urgency of the limited time offer,” Infinite Agency ECD Tim McCarthy, tells Muse.
“The name itself does a lot of flavor cueing. ‘The Hot Honey Fried Chicken Taco made with Mike’s Hot Honey’ sounds so good, you almost don’t need to show it. “And not showing it is exactly what we did in some of the campaign assets. The takeaway: our new taco is so good, you better get one before they’re gone.”
Of course, we’ve seen the faux-commercial schtick many times before. But here it’s super punchy, with the phony director’s anguished, world-weary reactions stealing the show. Muy bueno!
Leveraging the popularity of Mike’s Hot Honey also feels wise. The brand’s got plenty of fans these days, so co-branding powered by memorably goofy humor should pay off. Ride that cultural wave!
“The clients trusted that since the audience is in on the joke, we can capture some attention by being a little unconventional and a lot of fun,” McCarthy says.
That unconventionality extended to the set, with members of the real commercial crew playing roles. (Genuine PAs as fake PAs. Cue that Twilight Zone theme.)
“For some, it was their first time doing so,” recalls McCarthy (the work’s actual director). “They are so accustomed to being behind the camera that some of them couldn’t stop laughing when the lead actor—the talented Brian Villalobos—improved through his directorial meltdown.”
“We had to do a few takes. But ultimately this approach provided some authenticity to the end result. And a lot of fun on set.”
The work drops this week across TV, digital and point-of-purchase, with a heavy social component:
Related: Mike’s Hot Honey Raises Drizzling to a High Art
CREDITS
Client: Taco Bueno
Agency: The Infinite Agency
ECD/ Director: Tim McCarthy
Creative Director: Caleb Alba
Creative Director: Alan McCoy
Designer: Isabella Alva
VP Marketing and Development: Lindsey Moore
Assoc. Strategy Director: Niko Pappas
Production Company: Trust in the Vision Media
DP/ Producer/ Editor: Cesar Ramos-Ortiz
2nd Unit DP: Omar Gonzalez
1st AC: Spencer Baland
Gaffer: Dan Song
Grip: Brendan McCaughey
Grip: Jordan Stitt
Sound: Miguel Guerrera
Production Assistant: Kimberly Gabino
Production Assistant: Elisha Lovett
Lead On-Screen Talent: Brian Villalobos
