Ellsbury Steals a Base, America Steals a Taco, Taco Bell Steals America’s Money

Talk about can’t-miss marketing. In last week’s World Series, Taco Bell sponsored a contest where everyone in America would win a free taco if a player stole a base during the series. One stolen base? Baseball-Reference.com and a little math establish that there were more stolen bases (2,918) than games (2,431) all season, at a rate of 1.2 steals per game. One steal in a 4-7 game series is a virtual lock.

Former Oregon State College World Series Champion and Boston Red Sox rookie Jacoby Ellsbury delivered the inevitable with a nondescript Game 2 swipe without a throw in the fourth inning. It was clearly a matter of when, not if, the taco tycoon’s marketing scheme would take effect.

After last year’s contest required a left field home run that never came, executives made it clear they wanted this promotion as much as fans. When FOX play-by-play commentator Joe Buck made the announcement, many of the roughly 12 million viewers (average audience during series according to Nielsen ratings) ran for their calendars. At least, that’s what happened among my friends.

There was no mistaking that the contest was going on. FOX even cut to Red Sox reserve player Royce Clayton, whose microphone might as well have been sponsored by Taco Bell, on multiple occasions as he spread the word about the corporation’s “gift to America” throughout the dugout and across the country.

Many fans must mistakenly assume that Taco Bell suffered millions for the exposure. But the freebies were only offered from 2-5 p.m. on a random Tuesday and don’t cost nearly the $0.79 you pay on any other day. Perhaps the only Taco Bell products with higher margins are the soft drinks people needed to wash down their free tacos.

In an interview with on-field reporter Chris Myers, Taco Bell COO Rob Savage offered this gem: “The fact that Jacoby stole that base means no matter who you’re a fan of, everybody gets a free taco . . . It’s all for our customers. We want to do it for our customers, and we’re ready to serve millions of free tacos to everybody next Tuesday – every one of them made fresh for you.”

I’m not the only one talking about running for the border. According to the Nielsen BuzzMetrics BlogPulse, blog posts including the phrase “Taco Bell” have nearly doubled to .06% since the announcement of the promotion.

So what’s the verdict on this one: good marketing or annoying sales ploy? Between the television publicity, minimal costs and Internet exposure, what’s not to like? The probability of Taco Bell’s promotional benefits outweighing the costs is like the chance of a stolen base in the World Series.

Watch all the free taco madness.