• by Karl Greenberg , September 5, 2008

Yum Brands' Taco Bell QSR chain is touting its "Fourthmeal" late-night-snack program with a national music promotion, "Feed the Beat." The effort, in its third year, centers on a nationwide search for 100 bands who will get a month's supply of "Fourthmeals" via $500 in $5 Taco Bell Bucks while they are on tour.

The company will also back the bands with marketing support. It is centering the promotion at FeedtheBeat.com, which will feature the bands' music and serve as a social site in order to build fans. The Web site will have a "Best of the Beat" competition between the 100 chosen bands. Three finalists will get a well-known indie rock producer to record their singles. Taco Bell will put the singles on a compilation CD, and promote the album at the site and in restaurants next spring.

Taco Bell will also put the Web site address on Taco Bell's Sauce Packet, which--per the company--reaches more than 208 million people in about a month, as more than 35 million customers come through Taco Bell's 5,600 restaurants each week.

Bands have to sign up by Sept. 18 at the Web site to get the free food. The company will name the 100 "Feed the Beat" bands on Oct. 9. Bands that don't have a dedicated fan base, aren't on tour during the fall, and have neither a band Web page or a MySpace page need not apply.

The company coined "Fourthmeal" in 2006 and launched a campaign to tout the virtues of a "crunchy, spicy, melty, grilled" late-night snack at Taco Bell. The effort, via Foote, Cone and Belding, included television, radio, and outdoor advertising, an interactive Web site at fourthmeal.com and in-store merchandising.

The company said at the time that 40% of all employed Americans work a "non-traditional" schedule. Most respondents of a Taco Bell national survey said their schedules force them to eat later now than they did in years past. About 45% of 18- to-29-year-old male respondents and a third of males 30-39 years old said they ate later than 7 p.m., per the company.

Taco Bell, which stays open until 1 a.m., is part of a trend in quick-serve restaurants toward later and later hours of operation. Wendy's and Burger King are open late, and some McDonald's restaurants are open all night.