In 2014 Taco Bell was ready to launch their new breakfast menu. The challenge was to solidify Taco Bell — who had traditionally been a brand known for late night -- as a major breakfast player in an extremely crowded and competitive category. The strategy was to catapult us into the category by making breakfast a two horse race with leader McDonalds. By starting a war. We needed the attention of consumers already eating breakfast as QSR so they would re-consider their decision and try Taco Bell.

The solution was to use McDonald's own mascot against them. So we gathered 23 real people named Ronald McDonald and had them try Taco Bell's new breakfast. And guess what? They loved it.

Within hours of launch it was the top trending topic on twitter, Facebook and Google+. Over two million views of the launch spot alone on YouTube. And over three BILLION media impressions in the first 48 hours. Taco Bell had an all-time sales week record for franchisees.

The Ronald McDonald spots were the culmination of a larger Taco Bell PR "rolling thunder" strategy to steadily build buzz for Taco Bell breakfast. We teased about 30 key outlets, including USA Today and Associated Press, that we would be making big breakfast news—but we closely guarded the details so McDonald's wouldn't catch wind. This built anticipation and helped ensure coverage by not only those outlets, but hundreds more.

The launch was picked up by over 2,000 different news outlets (most of them dubbing it 'the breakfast wars'). Within hours it was the top trending topic on twitter, Facebook and Google+. Over 2 million views of the launch spot alone on YouTube. And over 3 BILLION media impressions in the first 48 hours. Taco Bell had an all-time sales week record for franchisees. And most importantly breakfast is now a 2 horse race in the mind of consumers. The breakfast wars have begun.