Taco John's CMO on the Media Channels the Brand Will Focus on in 2023

We asked M. Barry Westrum, Chief Marketing Officer at Taco John’s International, “Which media channels will you focus on for your marketing in 2023? Why?”

In 2023, we are planning to get back to basics and revisit traditional media. Traditional still gets scale and can be very targeted to our key geographies.

Our media mix is 70% TV commercials, and we plan to introduce more video across all of our channels. According to Insider Intelligence, U.S. adults will spend 54% (3 hours, 7 minutes) of their daily video time with traditional linear TV. Next year, Taco John’s will introduce 15-second spots instead of our usual 30-second spots, allowing us to bring to life our secondary brand messages around our value and breakfast offerings.

In addition, we will use these spots beyond traditional TV to share across ad-supported streaming services such as Apple TV to reach more targeted audiences with higher viewership too. This gives us exciting choices on where to place these media dollars.

We’re also getting very hyper-local with our connected/OTT TV messaging so that we can geotarget, giving us the ability to dive into the rural areas and hit our exact footprint. We are also going to explore more spend in digital channels like Meta and YouTube.

Another exciting channel we will focus on in 2023 is our loyalty program. Last year, Taco John’s launched a new points-based loyalty program with Punchh, and we’ve seen more than 30% growth in transactions featuring consumers earning or redeeming points.

We will look at leveraging this program even more this year to start building growth in online ordering. We know that loyalty members are our biggest opportunity for growth, and that by building membership through digital ads, incentives, and by driving engagement, we can create more frequency.

During the holidays we ran a successful campaign that included “12 Days of Deals,” where members got a free or reduced item every day. We see this as an opportunity engage with our biggest fans and plan to build on this momentum in 2023.