People are creatures of habit. And there’s no better proof than the impetus behind a new Chipotle Mexican Grill campaign. The restaurateur has more than 60,000 food combinations that people can order off its menu to make burrito, taco and salad combinations, yet most customers order the same thing over and over again.
The name of the campaign, “My Chipotle,” plays on the ubiquitous efforts of marketers to customize everything based on customers’ needs and wants. At Chipotle, customers choose what goes into an individual order and those very same customers are now being asked to help shape promotional messaging.
Through a variety of advertising mediums, customers are being encouraged to upload video, animations, photos and other content that shows their meal preferences. Chipotle will then use some of that content in phase two of the campaign.
The effort is a complete about face from the firm’s typical ad campaign.
“It’s the biggest departure from our traditional advertising,” spokesperson Chris Arnold said. “Historically, our advertising has virtually all just had a headline and one foil-wrapped burrito. It’s a very different look for us on the advertising front and a campaign that’s really designed to harness the fanaticism of our customer base.”
Chipotle discovered through customer research that not only were customers ordering the same thing every time they visited the restaurants due to a perceived lack of choice, but that new customers found the ordering experience confusing, even intimidating.
The new promotions will better demonstrate the universe of menu combinations available at Chipotle, Arnold said.
The campaign, by Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, appears online, in print, on the radio and in out-of-home advertising venues, including billboards, bus shelters and taxi tops in several cities around the country, including Sacramento, Denver, Dallas, Chicago and Cincinnati.
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