When National Burrito Day rolls around every year, Chipotle steadily jumps on buzzy trends just like the metaverse or cryptocurrency to dish out free food to hungry consumers. However, this yr the brand took its strategy back to the fundamentals, focusing efforts around Twitter for a candid giveaway inspired by its fans that delivered record-breaking success.
For the April 6 activation, Chipotle dispersed text-to-win codes on Twitter giving freely 10,000 free burritos — plus an extra 500 codes to users as an added surprise — together with free delivery on $10 orders. While not its flashiest display, the trouble now stands as Chipotle’s second largest digital sales day of all time and its highest one-day volume on social media of any activation ever, all while staying true to its longtime goal surrounding the vacation, in line with Tressie Lieberman, vp of digital marketing and off-premise for Chipotle.
“Our overarching strategy is to supercharge the super fans,” said Lieberman. “We consider our fans are different, they’re so obsessed with the brand and we try to present them things that they need to speak about and share with their communities.”
Demand surrounding the trouble soared, with each round of text codes dropped by Chipotle claimed in lower than a minute, over 1 million SMS messages sent and over 150,000 social media messages from consumers asking for a free burrito. The latter is certainly one of the highest questions the brand receives on social media for the vacation every year, Lieberman said, which is what inspired the trouble in hopes of constructing an enduring impression.
“Every yr we attempt to do the unexpected and really shake things up,” she said. “This yr, I believe because we hadn’t tapped into this insight yet, it was very unexpected — people weren’t pondering that we’d actually drop free Chipotle in that way, so we felt it was the best moment to make it occur.”
Additional marketing muscle got here from a partnership with GrubHub the day prior to National Burrito Day to supply a complete of 20,000 free burritos to consumers who placed a minimum $20 order on the app. To promote the offer, Chipotle partnered with social media mogul Alix Earle, currently the top-ranked influencer amongst teens, who shared the deal on TikTok. Demand for the giveaway was similarly felt, with all free burritos on the delivery app claimed in 12 hours.
Chipotle’s latest burrito celebration is more straightforward than a few of its past efforts, which have called on flashy marketing trends. For example, the brand last yr launched a Chipotle Burrito Builder experience on Roblox that divvied out free entree codes. In 2021, it capitalized on Bitcoin hype with a themed contest that awarded consumers with cryptocurrency and a complete of $100,000 value of free burritos.
Still, social media for Chipotle has turn into a tried-and-true avenue for connecting with consumers, and can be an asset for enhancing its rewards program, which today has 33 million members. Notably, CEO Brian Niccol when discussing the corporate’s Q1 earnings pointed to a lift in loyalty members stemming from its latest Freepotle rewards perk, an effort that launched in January to award members with free food drops all year long and was promoted with a TikTok and Instagram giveaway. The brand also recently unveiled a latest menu concoction following its virality on TikTok.
For this National Burrito Day, the brand’s promotion helped to spice up awareness and generated an enormous amount of digital traffic, Lieberman said, which has a domino effect with regards to loyalty enrollment. The effort also served as a reminder that marketing plays don’t must be complex to achieve success, and that listening stays a priceless tool.
“I believe the very best campaigns are easy,” Lieberman said. “It’s easy to play it back and for people to speak about and easy to grasp. We at all times take a look at the lens of simplicity after we’re excited about how a fan goes to speak in regards to the promotion we’re running.”
Generating buzz
When deciding on Chipotle’s burrito day strategy, meeting consumers where they’re through a community focused, shareable effort is a top priority, Lieberman said, and a key aspect of driving virality. Despite Twitter’s ongoing issues and broader advertiser pullback, Chipotle has continued to trace high engagement rates inside the app. However, festivities for the vacation weren’t designed with one specific platform in mind.
“Each platform has its own reason for being, and we expect in regards to the idea first, after which we elect the platform where it should work best,” Lieberman said.
For an activation revolving around live text code drops, Twitter logistically makes more sense in comparison with other platforms, like TikTok, which isn’t as adept at real-time engagement, the exec noted. Chipotle’s social listening team has also maintained a heavy presence on Twitter to answer to consumer questions and feedback, allowing the team to construct a quick-to-reply muscle that was critical for such an effort.
Beyond the logistics, winning over consumers means pondering of selling plays less as a hardcore sales tactic, and as a substitute approaching it meaningfully through the attitude of the patron, Lieberman said.
“It’s an incredibly vital a part of how you must connect with consumers today,” she said. “People don’t need to be talked at, they need to be seen and heard.”
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