Taco Bell Sets Competition to Select New Ad Agency

Taco Bell, which last month learned that parent company PepsiCo planned to spin it off as part of a new restaurant company, on Monday said it would hold a competition to choose a new advertising agency.

“Bozell Worldwide has been Taco Bell’s lead agency of record since mid-1994,” said Peter Waller, Taco Bell senior vice president. “During that time, they have done some very good work. However, given today’s highly competitive quick-service restaurant environment, we believe it is important to explore every option in order to build our sales and transactions.”

Taco Bell has asked several advertising agencies to “develop creative ideas which could lead to a potential future relationship with our company,” Waller said. There’s no word from Taco Bell on which agencies would be invited to submit ideas.

Taco Bell, based in Irvine, has been struggling in recent quarters to revive sales and profits in the increasingly competitive fast-food restaurant industry. Like most chains, Taco Bell is trying to increase sales and profits from stores that have been open for a year or more--an important measure of success in the restaurant industry.

Greg Johnson covers retail businesses and restaurants for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5950 and at greg.johnson@latimes.com