Chipotle ad campaign takes on 'Big Food,' targets Millennials
Chipotle's latest ad campaign, a rich, animated short film coupled with an online video game, rails against industrial farming and 'Big Food.' The new Chipotle campaign takes a page directly from the 'marketing to Millennials' handbook.
The sign of a Chipotle restaurant is pictured in Pasadena, Calif. The company noted a long-term concern about a potential guacamole menu change due to avocado shortages, causing a hullabaloo among Chipotle devotees.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters/File
Chipotle doesn鈥檛 do a huge amount of video-based advertising, instead relying mainly on billboards, radio, and Web ads. But when it does, it aims for maximum impact by doing something small and attention-grabbing, then using Internet buzz and cable news chatter as its primary forms of distribution. Its latest ad campaign is no exception.
Thursday, the fast-casual Mexican chain posted 鈥淭he Scarecrow鈥� online 鈥� a short, richly drawn animated film that marks only the second video advertisement in its 20-year existence. The film chronicles a scarecrow鈥檚 journey to provide city-dwellers a more homegrown alternative to the food offered by 鈥淐row Foods,鈥� an industrialized factory farm at the center of the city. (Crow Foods is run by evil robot crows, the natural enemies of helpful scarecrows). Fiona Apple, a singer/songwriter provides the soundtrack, singing a haunting cover of the song 鈥淧ure Imagination" from the movie 鈥�Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.鈥�
Created by Moonbot Studios, an Oscar-winning animation outfit, 鈥淭he Scarecrow鈥� is paired with a free, downloadable video game that tells the same story. Chipotle will offer buy-one-get-one free coupons to the first 1 million customers who successfully complete the game.
The film and game are just the teaser. In 2014, Chipotle will roll out four TV episode-length 鈥渄ark comedies鈥� taking on the conventionally processed food industry, according to USA Today. "We're trying to educate people about where their food comes from," Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle chief marketing officer,聽told the newspaper.
"The Scarecrow鈥� is similar in feel to Chipotle鈥檚 first national TV ad, 鈥淭he Farmer,鈥� which told the story of a farmer鈥檚 switch to factory farming and then back to pasture-raised methods over a Willie Nelson cover of Coldplay鈥檚 song 鈥淭he Scientist.鈥�
Both ads aim to accomplish two things. For one, they address the serious, often depressing (and graphic) issue of industrial farming practices in a light, almost whimsical way and reinforce Chipotle鈥檚 identity as a food giant that tries to do the right thing 鈥� the company prides itself on using as much 鈥渘aturally raised鈥� meat and organics as possible, something that has been a focal point of its marketing for more than a decade.
Second, they go hard after the company鈥檚 Millennial target market, via unconventional modes of release, a reliance on social media to help the ads spread, and a de-emphasis on the Chipotle brand itself. Indeed, the Chipotle logo only appears one time each in 鈥淭he Scarecrow鈥� film and video game, and it鈥檚 small both times.聽
That might seem like an unwise marketing strategy 鈥� after all, isn鈥檛 the whole point to sell more Chipotle burritos? 鈥� but it has some research to back it up. Millennials, according to several studies, are less concerned with brand loyalty than previous generations. A survey released last year by market research firm WSL Strategic Retail found that 60 percent of Millennials would ditch their preferred brand of a product if they could get a better price with a different brand. On the auto front, J.D. Power 2013 New Autoshopper Study found that 54 percent of Millennials were open to any brand at all when shopping for a vehicle.
Chipotle鈥檚 ad campaigns thus far seem to have taken that research to heart, prioritizing process over name.聽