Image provided by Taco Bell Costa Rica.
Taco Bell sponsors its share of sports teams and events, like pro-golfer Wesley Bryan and fan favorite “Steal a Base/Game, Steal a Taco” promotions with the MLB and NBA. But this year, the brand supported a new group of athletes — Costa Rica’s blind soccer team — and ended up uniting a nation.
For 12 years, Taco Bell Costa Rica has operated Inclusión Sin Límites (Inclusion Without Limits, in English). The program aims to help the 60 percent of disabled Costa Ricans who suffer from unemployment due to the misconception that they can’t work. In fact, they’re very employable, and this is what the company teaches other local businesses through workshops and leading by example. Out of Taco Bell Costa Rica’s 650 employees, more than 100 have a disability, and two restaurants are completely staffed by differently abled team members (with the exception of the manager).
So when the brand heard that the national blind soccer team qualified for the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Blind Football World Championships in Madrid but didn’t have enough money to go, it snapped into action. Together with ad agency BBDO and PR agency Porter Novelli, Taco Bell developed El Combo que Nadie Ve (The Combo that No One Sees, in English) and asked customers to donate 500 colones (less $1 USD) or 1,000 colones (less than $2) in addition to whatever they paid for their meal.
“And people went crazy,” said Taco Bell marketing manager Monica Quesada. “People were like, ‘We have to get them to the World Cup!’”
Several customers donated more than the requested 500 colones and shared the El Combo que Nadie Ve video 7,000 times on Facebook. By comparison, the market’s videos typically get only 500 shares.
Even other brands got into it. Adidas donated uniforms. Toyota provided the team ground transportation. Banco National gave money in support. Three local musicians, who normally charge $3,000 to play, threw a fundraising concert at one of the restaurants, and a local bus stop gave Taco Bell free advertising space. But the real kicker came when the local soccer clubs Team OK and Teletica FC played the blind team in a televised match, which raised more than $1,000.
“The Team OK and Teletica FC players blindfolded themselves for the entire match, and by doing so, they raised awareness of this team that nobody really knew existed,” said Ana Maria Lazareff, associate marketing manager for Taco Bell Latin America and Caribbean. “It just took off, and everybody rallied around them.”
By the end of six weeks, Taco Bell collected more than $20,000 to send the team to Madrid to play in the Blind Football World Championships where they lost to Brazil, Mali, England and Turkey but beat South Korea, coming in 14th place.
“Even though they lost, everybody here says that they are already champions,” Quesada said. “I mean, these guys just played in the Blind World Cup! We didn’t just sponsor a soccer team; we proved to Costa Rica — and the world — what differently abled people are capable of.”
If you’re curious, find out how blind soccer is played, and learn more about our differently abled programs in India, Pakistan and Thailand.
