Analysis Of Chipotle: A Love Story

In July 2016, after a rough 12 months, Chipotle decided it was time for a new marketing push that would remind customers what drew them to Chipotle in the first place. The plan included a temporary loyalty plan. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the program, the company’s chief creative and development executive, Mark Crumpacker, who had been leading the reboot, was charged with drug possession and named by the police as a repeat buyer of cocaine from a New York delivery service. Research from a review by UBS stated that frequent Chipotle customers “are unlikely to return anytime soon” and “lighter users,” “appear to be much more negatively impacted by the incidents and are more inclined to reduce visits.” Other fast-food restaurants attempted to step in and take advantage of Chipotle’s mishaps. Chipotle …show more content…
It is a four-minute 15 second ad that shows two kids running an orange juice and lemonade stand. The two kids are in competition for sales. They go through crazy measures to be more successful than one another, which escalates into adulthood, as they become fast-food legends. The power gets to their heads and they become overwhelmed with it all. They discover each other again and are reminded of why they started. They fall in love and decide to rebuild a business together featuring all-natural food and drinks. The ad concludes with a happy ending of the man and woman lying together with a child and puppy. The screen reads, “Cultivate a better world.” This story is not far off from Chipotle’s own history. Angela Natividad wrote an article in Adweek asking the question of “Is Chipotle’s Latest Epic Animated Film Actually a Cry for Help?” (2016). She looked deeper into the commercial by asking, “What will it take for this darling of fast-food chains to finally push away its sprinkle-crusted tacos (a drug metaphor?) and return to its first love—fresh food, possibly a future in food trucks?