Taco Bell Throws it Back to 2016 with Latest Decades Menu

Taco Bell has thrown it back to 2016 with the latest Decades Menu, with a campaign from Deutsch featuring some of the era’s most iconic Vines and a partnership with Divine, the new six-second looping video platform inspired by Vine.

“For decades, Taco Bell has been woven into the lives of our fans, and there’s something special about revisiting the moments and experiences that made 2016 distinctly memorable,” said Luis Restrepo, chief marketing officer, Taco Bell North America. "Whether you remember 2016 or another era of Taco Bell, the Decades Menu is about reconnecting with the flavour and feelings that fans loved the first time around, while giving a new generation the chance to discover it for themselves."

Ten years later–2016 is all the rage. Our feeds are dominated by nostalgia for those purple hazy filters, flower crowns and what’s been dubbed what’s 'the last good year' of the internet:

• In January, TikTok searches for '2016' surged by 452% in a single week
  
• More than 55M videos were created using the app’s 2016 filter
  
• Spotify reported a 800% Rise in 2016 Themed Music Playlists

2016 was the peak of unpolished. It’s a time that’s synonymous with being carefree. Virality wasn’t overly engineered, it just happened. People didn’t build personas, they just posted. While the world around us has become aestheticized and personified, Taco Bell has stayed rooted in a carefree, no-permission energy.

Set to the soundtrack of 2016 (The Chainsmokers) the campaign film highlights the new menu alongside some of the most iconic Vines of the era, from 'What are those?' and 'Look at all those chickens' to 'Cute. I wish I could get it, but...' The result is designed to feel less like watching an ad and more like scrolling through your feed in 2016.

“We wanted to create a campaign that not only looked like 2016, but felt like 2016,” said Declan Byrnes-Enoch, SVP group creative director, Deutsch. “That meant putting Vines that went triple platinum on our feeds in the campaign film and embracing the kind of creativity that felt spontaneous, unpolished and joyful. It’s a full send, bringing the effortlessness and energy of that era into today.”

Taco Bell is also taking the throwback beyond the campaign with Divine, the new AI-free, six-second looping video app paying homage to Vine. Taco Bell fans received early access before Divine Video’s public launch, happening today, where they can now immediately start uploading videos and watching favourites from more than 2.5 million classic Vines.

The partnership extends the campaign’s 2016 internet energy into a platform built around the same kind of spontaneous creativity, giving Taco Bell fans a chance to experience the era rather than simply reminisce about it. In addition to the partnership with DiVine, Taco Bell will continue to celebrate 2016 exclusive merch partnerships with Camp Snap and Anti Social Social Club.