Breaking Down The Taco Bell x Nikola Jokic Beef

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Most F1 car launches are about the livery. Red Bull’s was about what’s underneath.

Oracle Red Bull Racing unveiled its 2026 car in Detroit, right at Ford’s Michigan Central HQ, and the location choice wasn’t an accident. This was about doubling down on the U.S. market and putting the Red Bull Ford Powertrains partnership front and center.

If this feels familiar, that’s intentional. Red Bull held the first-ever U.S.-based F1 car launch back in 2023 in New York City, where they also teased the Ford power-unit partnership for 2026 and let fans design liveries for the American Grands Prix. Coming back to the U.S., this time Detroit, Ford’s backyard, felt like the natural sequel.

The launch itself was built for scale. Ford was the clear presenting partner, the powertrains were featured throughout the reveal content (Tease 1 | Tease 2 | Hype Video). The live stream on Red Bull Racing’s YouTube channel pulled in 1.1M views, their most-watched launch since that 2023 NYC event (1.7M views).

According to Lucy Gray, the team’s senior social media manager, it was their most-engaged Season Launch to date. But the partnership story didn’t rely solely on the 2026 livery reveal.

Ahead of the launch, Red Bull primed the audience with a long-form YouTube video titled “F1 Drivers Race 100 Years Of Cars,” featuring Max Verstappen and Arvid Lindblad racing Ford vehicles across generations. The video racked up more than 5.7M views. It included a surprise appearance from Daniel Ricciardo. No coincidence: the next day, his lifestyle brand Enchanté dropped a Ford Racing merch collab—Ricciardo is both a former Red Bull driver and a Ford Racing Ambassador.

When the RB22 finally appeared, the focus was clear: Red Bull and Ford aren’t just partners on paper. They’re co-building the future. For the first time, Red Bull will race with an in-house power unit developed alongside Ford Racing, Red Bull Ford Powertrains

Red Bull and Ford connected engineering, entertainment, and commerce long before the car hit the stage. The real impact came from the intentional build-up: leveraging Ford’s expertise for Red Bull’s first in-house power unit, strengthening resonance in the U.S. market, and keeping the partnership top of mind ahead of the launch, so the car’s debut landed with maximum impact.

In Today’s Edition:

• Jokic’s Taco Bell Beef 🌯 

• Kalshi Course Record Market 📈 

• Gatorade Gift Gone Right 🐻 

🏊️ DEEP DIVE
How Taco Bell Finally Won Over Nikola Jokic

Eleven years after interrupting Nikola Jokic’s NBA Draft moment, Taco Bell figured out how to turn it into a long-game brand win.

Stick with this one. It ends with a larger trend brands are quietly using to amplify sports marketing campaigns.

Nikola Jokic’s introduction to many NBA fans came in the middle of a Taco Bell commercial.

During the 2014 NBA Draft, the Denver Nuggets selected Jokic 41st overall, but the pick was announced during a commercial break. The only on-screen acknowledgment was his name briefly scrolling across the bottom of the screen, secondary to Taco Bell unveiling a new product, the Quesarito.

That moment stuck. So much so that Jokic has famously avoided Taco Bell ever since. “I think I’ve never had Taco Bell just because of that,” he said in an episode of Gold Rush, the Nuggets’ All-Access show.

The former second-round pick has come a long way since being upstaged by a menu item. Since becoming an All-Star in 2019, Jokic has established himself as one of the league’s most dominant players. He is a perennial All-Star, a three-time NBA MVP, and the leader of the Nuggets’ first-ever NBA championship in 2023.

More than a decade later, Taco Bell decided to turn that forgotten draft-night moment into a full campaign.

The Apology

It started on December 17 with a simple apology.

Taco Bell publicly said sorry for hijacking Jokic’s big moment, teased the return of the Quesarito, and asked him to finally give it a chance.

What made the video work was the hook. It mirrored how people actually consume social content: “This video is for Nikola Jokic. If you’re not Nikola, keep scrolling.”

The result was immediate. 4.3M views and 214.3K engagements across platforms.

The Nuggets leaned into it as well, quote-tweeting the content and signaling that this would not be an easy win for Taco Bell. The brand welcomed the friction.

And this was not just a digital launch. The plea for “The Joker” to try the Quesarito showed up in out-of-home placements and inside Ball Arena, setting the stage for what came next.

Turning the Arena Into a Stage

The Quesarito officially returned to Taco Bell menus on December 18, giving Jokic his first real chance to try it.

The Nuggets social team had one ready for him as he arrived to play the Orlando Magic. Jokic did not take the bait.

That choice of stage mattered. Using player arrivals as the setting to go back and forth with Jokic throughout the campaign was smart. Arrivals are one of the most valuable pieces of digital inventory in sports, consistently generating strong reach and engagement across both sports and fashion-focused audiences.

Just as important, Jokic is used to being filmed in that moment, and the social team already captures arrivals regularly. There was very little added effort, but the impact was significantly higher.

So Taco Bell escalated.

Two days later, every seat in Ball Arena had a shirt waiting on it. Each one featured the NBA Draft moment and the message: “Give The Quesarito A Chance.”

It created an in-person spectacle for the 19,000+ fans in the building and something so unexpected that fans, local media, and national outlets rushed to share it. Earned media carried the story across social, broadcast coverage of the game, local news, and online publications.

Back in the arrival tunnel, Jokic remained unfazed, shaking his head at yet another cheesy attempt to get him to try the Quesarito.

Christmas Day Escalation

Then came Christmas Day, the biggest date on the NBA regular-season calendar outside of Opening Night. A full slate of nationally televised games and the perfect moment to move the story forward.

Once again, arrivals provided the stage.

Jokic showed up to play the Minnesota Timberwolves wearing a Taco Bell branded cardigan. It felt like progress, until his undershirt made the message clear. He still was not trying the Quesarito.

After the game, he addressed it with another on-brand, punny response: “It’s a little beef I have with Taco Bell.”

Another beat. Another chapter. Then things went quiet heading into the New Year.

Breaking the News

Last week, the update finally arrived.

Shams Charania, ESPN’s Senior NBA Insider, broke the news on Instagram with exclusive footage of Jokic taking his first bite of a Taco Bell Quesarito.

That decision did several things at once.

First, Taco Bell extended the reach of the campaign beyond Nuggets fans and into the broader NBA fandom by partnering with the most trusted news breaker in the sport. If Jokic trying a Quesarito was going to be treated like news, Shams was the only person who could credibly deliver it.

The channel choice mattered too. Posting this on X would have felt off. Shams’ brand there is built on real-time, high-importance information, often with notifications turned on. Sharing lighthearted branded content in that environment could dilute trust.

Instagram was the right fit. It is a space where fans expect a looser tone and fewer urgent updates, allowing Shams to participate without risking credibility.

From there, NBA Central shared the video on X. That move made sense as well. NBA Central is not a serious journalism outlet. It is a fan-facing aggregation account that NBA fans follow with context and flexibility. The content traveled widely without hurting anyone’s brand.

A Growing Playbook

This approach points to a broader trend emerging in sports marketing. Brands are increasingly partnering with NBA media and news breakers to amplify campaigns.

CeraVe provided a clear example in 2025.

When Anthony Davis was named Head of CeraVe alongside Paige Bueckers and Charli D’Amelio, the brand did not stop at comedic announcement videos. They pinned posts, updated avatars, and brought in former ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski to post about the move on both X and Instagram.

Despite the celebrity lineup, Woj accounted for 62% of the $160,584 in total social value (per Zoomph).

Later that year, CeraVe leaned further into the ecosystem, partnering with @NBACentral to tease and announce its NBA partnership (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3).

Taco Bell followed a similar blueprint here, pairing trusted insiders with fan-facing aggregation accounts to expand reach while protecting credibility.

The Takeaway

This campaign worked because Taco Bell did not try to manufacture a new narrative. It amplified a moment it was already part of.

The draft-night interruption happened. The conversation around it existed for years. Taco Bell simply chose the right time and the right channels to re-enter it.

Every activation showed discipline, using arrivals, Christmas Day broadcasts, and trusted NBA media to escalate the story without forcing Jokic into traditional brand behavior.

The most effective campaigns often start by recognizing which moments you already own, then distributing them with patience and intent.

🔍️ SPONCONSPIRATION
Steal These Ideas

Kalshi signed on as the presenting sponsor of Bryson DeChambeau’s Public Course Record series (Season 2), complete with a live Kalshi market tracking how many course records Bryson breaks in 2026. That two-way connection makes the deal mutually beneficial and proves this partnership is about far more than simple awareness of a prediction market.

Similarly, The Post Moves Podcast, hosted by WNBA legend Candace Parker and Indiana Fever star Aliyah Boston, is teaming up with Just Women’s Sports. The collaboration lets fans submit questions for the show directly through JWS’s Instagram Stories, pulling audience participation into both the content and distribution strategy.

After footage surfaced of Chicago Bears running back Kyle Monangai struggling to drink from a Gatorade bottle, the brand leaned in, sending the rookie a custom, dummy-proof bottle. The post produced over 2.5M views across channels.

We talked last week about what makes a great partnership announcement, and Audi F1 just added a few more examples. Gillette and Braun, both part of the team’s new P&G deal, were featured in creative reveals using optical illusions, making it look like the products themselves fit the contours of the 2026 car. Audi also used this approach with Piquadro

Liverpool’s Federico Chiesa and Milos Kerkez went head-to-head in a “guess the distance” challenge, jogging on a Peloton treadmill to see who could most closely match the length of a full football pitch. Creative concept, clean integration, easy to repeat.

🚨 ICYMI
What To Watch For

It’s Good And Nice: @DirectorOfSocial broke down how Dr. Pepper turned a TikTok-created jingle into a major brand moment at this year’s College Football National Championship.

Stat Of The Week: 76% of fans are completely anonymous to the properties they support. Dizplai’s Anonymous Fan Index shows that 1 in 3 sports organizations are losing $1M+ annually simply because they can’t reach their fanbase. The Anonymous Fan Index also includes 100 tactical ideas to help teams start fixing the problem.

Creator Clubhouse: The Detroit Tigers launched their first-ever, season-long creator program. Members get exclusive access, curated gameday experiences, and opportunities to create original content at Comerica Park and beyond.

Creator Golf Still Evolving: Rick Shiels launched The Creator Golf Club, a creator-led, fan-fueled collective made up of amateurs and creators. The community’s flagship event, the Creator Golf Club Championship, is a global amateur tournament hosted by some of the biggest golf creators on the planet.

Napoli’s NIL Strategy: Andy Marston sat down with Leonardo Giammarioli, Chief Global Business Development Officer at SSC Napoli, to unpack how one of Italy’s biggest football clubs is building a smarter, more sustainable commercial model by leveraging player image rights [via Sports Pundit Podcast].

From Merch To Media: Fanatics and OBB Media announced the launch of Fanatics Studios, kicking things off with a premium slate of projects and partnerships that include ESPN, WWE, LA28, Tom Brady, Fox Sports, MLB, and more.