Brand new poster put up on a franchise window this morning. photo/bmm

IRVINE, Calif. — Taco Bell rolls out a new Cool Ranch Doritos flavored taco shell today to its restaurants and franchises nationwide. The company, part of Yum Brands, says the new menu item will receive its largest marketing effort ever and that the Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco (Cool Ranch DLT) has already received more social media buzz than any of its other menu item launches.

Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed underlined the excitement and momentum of the new product: "We have heard the pleas for Cool Ranch DLT and we're thrilled to see our fans responses on Facebook, Twitter and Vine to our announcement of the launch date – sharing comments like 'we will camp out' and 'my wish came true,'" said Creed. "This will be Taco Bell's biggest product launch of 2013!"

The foodservice company plans to strongly integrate social media to tap into consumers. Early marketing of Cool Ranch DLT tapped into close-followers of Taco Bell and social fanatics to get the word out by providing opportunities to try the new flavor first. But that sneak preview at select restaurants was hit by bad press as some angered fans erroneously thought that their local restaurants would have the product Wednesday. The brand apologized and reaffirmed that the national launch would be available today.

Twitter "Duh" hashtag on wrapper, photo/bmm

Over the last three weeks, Taco Bell has given select fans a peek at the new taco, holding password-only events in New York, Dallas and Los Angeles. Taco Bell also listened to real-time social conversations and rewarded passionate fans asking for Cool Ranch DLT daily by providing "epic deliveries" to give them an early taste. A few examples included: a New York delivery to a woman who asked Taco Bell to be her Valentine; in Minneapolis, a university student brought together enough friends and family to finish 1,000 Cool Ranch DLTs; and, in Seattle, a YouTube personality got a surprise delivery of Cool Ranch DLTs after an exchange on Twitter with Taco Bell and her posting a special request video on her channel. Taco Bell is also inviting fans to post photos to Instagram or tweet their best #wow or #duh face – using those specific hashtags, followed by #CoolRanchDLT – for the chance to see their photo reactions on a big screen billboard in Times Square.

The Cool Ranch DLT follows on the heels of last year's Nacho Cheese DLT, which the company said has become the brand's most successful product launch in its 51-year history, selling more than 350 million.