Chipotle’s ScarecrowCampaignRichard SwansonKasra NikzadMKTG 340Final Project2 Dec 2014

Overview

Chipotle is a “fast casual” restaurant with over 1,600 restaurants worldwide. Chipotle focuses on using sustainable ingredients in all their products to ensure they provide high quality food to their customers

http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/company/about_us.aspx

Campaign OverviewThe Scarecrow campaign is a PSA looking to inform consumers where the food industry could be heading. The campaign, launched by the Creative Artist Agency (CAA), is trying to educate millennials about where their food comes from while also encouraging them to cultivate a better world through the use of digital advertising (social media, apps, viral videos).

http://adage.com/article/special-report-cannes-lions/caa-wins-pr-grand-prix-chipotle-s-scarecrow/293727/

ObjectiveThere are two main objectives of this campaign: (1) to inform consumers about the truth about what’s in their food and (2) to encourage consumers to cultivate a better world. The basic premise behind a scarecrow is a “protector of food/crops”. Chipotle looks to associate their brand with that “scarecrow” symbolism to build stronger brand equity

Market Analysis

InternalChipotle primarily targets millennials due to the loyalty that market tends to show over other segments. The company offers 1,600 restaurants worldwide which leads to a high level of exposure for multiple demographics

ExternalChipotle is a part of a highly competitive market. The additional noise within the market could make the message of the Scarecrow campaign harder to understand.

http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/company/about_us.aspx

Market Analysis ContinuedIn order for Chipotle to differentiate themselves within the market, it turned to service. Chipotle emphasizes on the farm raised animals and organic foods to its consumers. This associates positive healthy foods in a market that is not known for healthy foods and also gives Chipotle an advantage over its competitors

Market Analysis ContinuedOther Factors that helped make this campaign successful include:

– Availability when and where audiences want it• The campaign was available through digital devices.

– Portability• The campaign was easily accessible.

– Relevant to multiple audiences• While the campaign mainly targets millennials, it

can also target other audiences such as food enthusiast, animals lovers, etc.

– Being a part of a steady stream of material• This campaign is part 2 of a 3 part campaign. The

popularity of the “Back to Start” campaign gave this campaign a head start in its launch.

http://lisapeyton.com/chipotle-scarecrow-campaign-advertising-or-narrative-and-why-it-worked/

Audience Analysis - Segmentation

Segment 1 Segment 2 Segment 3

Demographics Millennials Environmentally Conscious

Health Conscious

Psychographics Understands technology, follows

trends, busy

Picky about foods they eat, tends to

eat at sit-in restaurants

Eats whole foods, always on-the-go

Benefit/ usage Quick Food Responsibly produced meal

Healthy meals

Audience Analysis - Targeting

The segment Chipotle chose to target are the Millennials. Millennials provide a large target audience to generate the most profit. Through social networks and the increasing trend of digital usage, Millennials are easily reachable. Millennials are also a good match due to the fast-casual and the healthy food Chipotle offers.

Audience Analysis - Positioning

Chipotle positioned this campaign by cultural symbol. They used the premise of the scarecrow to represent Chipotle’s “food with integrity” motto.

Millennials tend to follow trends. This plays into Chipotle’s positioning strategy as the trend of sustainable healthy living has been steadily increasing

Brand and Consumer Insights

Brand Insight

• Sustainable• Healthy• All natural Ingredients• Farm-raised animals

Consumer Insight

• What is sustainable?

• Fast-food cultured with GMO’s and processed foods

• Not the go-to place

The Sweet Spot

Brand Insight

• Sustainable• Healthy• All natural Ingredients• Farm-raised animals

Consumer Insight

• What is sustainable?• Fast-food

cultured with GMO’s and processed foods• Not the goto place

Sweet Spot

• Chipotle is not just another fast food restaurant. • They practice the idea of

“Food with Integrity” • Offers healthy non processed

foods• Cultivating a better place

Brand and Positioning StrategyChipotle’s brand value promises “food with integrity.” This means they will only serve the best ingredients raised with respect for the animals, environment, and the farmers

The brand values are presented in the campaign by informing consumers how manufacturing farms operate as well as allowing consumers the opportunity to associate themselves with the “food with integrity” brand value. This also serves as their positioning strategy as its competitors seem to be more focused on making profit while turning over the most product. Chipotle is focused on sustainable ingredients while making profit along the way.

Creative AnalysisThis campaign used an animation framework along with an emotional appeal to display the harsh reality of the food industry. (Objective 1). The campaign then allows the consumer to make a difference though the concepts of saving the animals, serving wholesome food, and planting crops offered in the scarecrow game/app (Objective 2).The big idea in this campaign engages the consumer and is aimed to motivate the consumer to: think, feel, do. The campaign creates awareness of how animals are being treated in manufactured farms and then looks to change the attitude of the consumer by asking consumers to make a difference by cultivating a better world.

Creative Analysis Continued

This campaign uses a verbal and visual image theory. Through animation and music, Chipotle was able get a the best response and recall from its consumers. Chipotle used a well recognized Willy Wonka song called “Pure Imagination” within their campaign. The song was played a strong role in the campaign in that it :

– Triggered consumer emotion due the history and highly recognizable music from the popular Willy Wonka movie

– Symbolized that the food from the fast-food industries are pure imagination. The ingredients are not real.

The song alone was able to trigger the “back in the day” emotion for variety of markets which helps arrests its consumers. In addition the song directly correlates with the message the campaign is looking to portray.

Media Strategy

The first type of media the Scarecrow Campaign used was video

The Scarecrow

Media Strategy ContinuedUsing video as a part of this campaign was a huge strength because it tapped into the consumers affective emotions through animation and music which made the campaign easy to relate too. Another strength is through the use of mobile devices, the video can be accessed anywhere in the world via YouTube. Whether it is to be watched in the U.S. or Europe, it will still be relevant and effective to the consumer base. The biggest weakness of this specific video is the brand is not displayed within the video at all. If Chipotle had not launched this campaign through its site, it would be hard to determine who the owner of this campaign would be solely based on the video

Media Strategy ContinuedThe next media this campaign introduces was an app/game

The Scarecrow Game

Media Strategy ContinuedThe app/game in this campaign focuses on the service aspect of the campaign. It co-creates value by allowing consumers to interact with the campaign itself. The interaction will allow the consumer to gain the awareness the campaign is looking to display.The weakness of this element is that the game can only be played on Apple products (iPod, iPad, iPhone). The audience reached by this element is still very large but could be improved if they had allowed the app to be download on both Apple and Android products

Media Strategy ContinuedThe final media selection the campaign used was internet

The Chipotle Scarecrow Campaign

Media Strategy Continued

This campaign was made complete by making the elements of the video and the app/game into a reality for consumers. Through the usage of the internet, the campaign highly encourages consumers to cultivate a better world. It provides examples of personal stories as well as examples of different groups that practice this concept. It’s now up to the consumers to make the difference!

Paid – Owned – Earned MediaChipotle heavily relied on using owned and earned media to generate the success of its campaign. Chipotle managed to launch this campaign without spending a dime on television or any other form of paid media. Chipotle used their website (owned) to get the word out about the campaign. Once the campaign became viral, Chipotle was able to gain the most valuable type of media: earned media.The earned media allowed the voice of the consumer to represent Chipotle’s Scarecrow Campaign through social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. This would allow a new perspective to those who may have not yet seen the campaign.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/209285/chipotles-scarecrow-55-million-views-and-co.html?edition=

ResultsChipotle had impressive results from this campaign

– 13+ million views and 74+ thousand likes on YouTube.– Brand awareness score jumped from 64% to 70% in

just one week in 2013.– Received 3 Gold Lions at Cannes Lions 2014.– Sparked 18.4 million conversations across 17 social

media websites in the first month alone– Replaced Taco Bell as the top social brand.

Not only did Chipotle increase its awareness, but it also saw its “systemwide revenue jump 25.8%, its comparable-store sales jumped 12.7%, and its net income soared 34.9%.” The emotion evoking campaign was recognized by its consumers and critics alike. Its simplistic, yet inspirational style resulted in achieving the objectives of this campaign

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/209285/chipotles-scarecrow-55-million-views-and-co.html?edition=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reDRAHn3XkY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUtnas5ScSE

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/chipotle-honda-win-multiple-gold-lions-branded-content-no-one-takes-grand-prix-158503