• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 22, 2013

Digitas has been working with Taco Bell on the launch of the Fiery Doritos Locos Taco (DLT) to create a ripple effect across the Web.

The agency gave YouTube content creators Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch -- the two behind the YouTube FreddieW videos -- a brief about the product and left it up to them to interpret it in their own way. The video shows the two making a taco with a 3D printer. Laatsch takes us through a tutorial on how to create the special effects in a related video.

After just two days on YouTube the video garnered more than 500 million views and 23,000 likes, according to Eric Perko, associate media director at Digitas, San Francisco. He said the 30-second spot showcasing the Fiery Doritos Locos Tacos will run as a pre-roll video, as well as other placements across digital properties.

The Taco Bell campaign launches Aug. 25, following the product launch earlier this week. It will run between five and seven weeks on Pandora, Songsa, ESPN.com, CBS Sports, and MTV Properties, as well as VGHS2, CDS Network, and on the FreddieW YouTube channel, which supports more than 6 million subscribers and 900 million video views.

In an employee meeting late Thursday at Taco Bell's headquarters in Irvine, Calif. company president Brian Niccol introduced a Rockumentary filmed at SXSW as part of the launch campaign. It highlights two emerging bands -- Passion Pit and Wildcat! Wildcat! -- during different levels in their career, but on the same journey. Niccol said that overall, the campaign has already generated more than 1 billion impressions.

The rockumentary produced by Sam Jones will launch this weekend during the MTV Video Music Awards. A 30-second TV spot will run. Vevo becomes the exclusive home for the video for one month. The video site will give Taco Bell $700,000 in promotional consideration in exchange for the exclusive rights, according to Will Bortz, senior manager for brand partnerships and sponsorships. "It will give people a streaming concert experience, give them a story, allow them to understand what 'Live Mas' means," he told a room full of Taco Bell employees.

"Mas," Spanish for "more," emphasizes Taco Bell's focus on social, search and digital media.  

Search is moving into a supporting role for social and content, because it's the first place consumers typically turn toward to find the brand's conversation. The keywords in the search campaign focus on anything related to Taco Bell, Fiery DLT, Freddie, or Brandon. The goal becomes tracking the traffic from the engine to the video and back again, Perko said.