Ep 51: Zipporah Allen is the Chief Digital Officer for Taco Bell
The COVID 19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated the rate at which digital innovations are currently being integrated across industries. In today’s episode, we talk with Zipporah Allen, who joined Taco Bell as their Chief Digital Officer in 2019, just a few months before the start of the COVID-19 changed the world, about the success of their latest digital initiative and how her previous roles prepared her for the immense challenges that accompany a global pandemic. Zipporah has had a phenomenal career, from occupying multiple roles across marketing and strategy at McDonald’s to joining Yum! brands where she spent several years at Pizza Hut mastering the pizza category and digital innovation, before transitioning to Taco Bell. Tuning in, you'll hear about Taco Bell’s new subscription program, Taco Lovers Pass, how they developed it, why Zipporah is so proud of her team, and why digital is uniquely suited to delivering a remarkably personalized customer experience. We also delve into Zipporah’s dedication to multi-locational marketing, what drew her to the industry, and why she stayed. Be sure to tune in for this fascinating conversation on the power of brand identity, consumer engagement, the relationship between digital and analog, and much more!
Key Points From This Episode:
Get to know Zipporah Allen, Chief Digital Officer for Taco Bell, and learn a fun fact about her.
Hear about Zipporah’s previous roles at Taco Bell, including Chief Marketing Officer.
Learn about Zipporah’s previous job at Pizza Hut, Taco Bell’s sister company, which are both parts of Yum! brands.
Why pizza was previously considered to be more digitally forward in the restaurant space.
What Zipporah learned from working at Pizza Hut and how she applied the lessons she learned there to her new role at Taco Bell.
The critical role that customer engagement and fandom plays in the Taco Bell brand.
Why digital acceleration was always going to take place at Taco Bell but was sped up by the COVID-19 pandemic.
How Taco Bell is creating an entirely new customer journey in their brand interaction.
How Taco Bell’s tech stack is delivering a highly personalized experience to each individual customer.
Zipporah’s counterparts in IT and marketing and how they take collective ownership of their tech stack.
Discover Taco Bell’s new digital initiative, a subscription service called Taco Lovers Pass.
Some of the research and testing they did before designing their subscription service.
Why Zipporah is so impressed with the team at Taco Bell and how they were able to develop a subscription service on such an efficient timeline.
What Zipporah learned from her job at McDonald’s.
How working for an international brand led Zipporah to live and work in Australia for several years.
What Zipporah learned through working abroad.
Why Zipporah chose to join Yum! brands.
Some of the metrics that Taco Bell uses to measure and personalize the customer experience.
What initially attracted Zipporah to the multi-location marketing category and why she has remained with it her entire career.
Zipporah’s approach to mentorship both personally and professionally.
Other leaders Zipporah would like to see interviewed on the show.
Tweetables:
“If you think about what we're trying to create, it's a totally new customer journey, and a totally new experience of how a fan of Taco Bell is going to shop and interact with the brand.” — Zipporah Allen [0:08:24]
“When I joined Yum!, just about seven years ago, I was really excited about learning about the pizza category, understanding how to drive demand on a direct to consumer basis versus just a mass basis, using digital channels to really customize and personalize the experience.” — Zipporah Allen [0:21:56]
“I love the fact that food is an emotional category. Consumers, yes, they make some rational decisions in food, but a lot of it can be driven by emotion and that is so interesting and compelling to me.” — Zipporah Allen [0:36:20]