“A Love Story” is an animated short from Chipotle about a competition between Ivan and his neighbor, Evie.
The past 12 months have not been easy for Chipotle Mexican Grill.
Following a food safety scare last year in which hundreds of people fell ill after eating Chipotle products contaminated with E. coli bacteria or noroviruses, the company — which has long advertised its fresh, high-quality ingredients — has seen its stock price fall by double digits.
So Chipotle decided it was time for a new marketing push, one that would remind customers what drew them to Chipotle in the first place. This corporate reboot included instituting a temporary loyalty plan, something the company had long resisted, that started on July 1 and rewards repeat customers with free food.
Then, another bump in the road.
Within days of the program starting, 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. He was placed on administrative leave.
All of this prompts worry that a significant percentage of frequent Chipotle customers “are unlikely to return anytime soon,” according to a recent review by UBS. Food safety concerns, the April analysis said, weigh less on confirmed fans. However, “lighter users,” the research found, “appear to be much more negatively impacted by the incidents and are more inclined to reduce visits.”
Other fast-food chains have stepped right up to try to take advantage of Chipotle’s misfortunes. When Chipotle stores closed during lunch hour one day this winter for meetings about food safety, Moe’s Southwest Grill, an Atlanta-based chain of nearly 600 stores, ran a full-page ad in USA Today, noting: “We’re open, especially on February 8.”
The New York-based Dos Toros Taqueria, which opened its 11th store last month, also used some guerrilla marketing to draw attention to itself that day. Near a shuttered Chipotle store in Midtown Manhattan, Dos Toros had printed handouts that said: “We’re open for lunch, as usual.”
Chipotle, ignoring its feisty competitors, said that it was pressing ahead with its new animated marketing film, “A Love Story,” which tells the story of the young entrepreneurs Evie and Ivan, who set up rival juice stands. Soon, fierce competition leads each of them to adopt ways of preparing and offering food products that undermine their original intentions.
Eventually, the pair realize they are on the wrong path and return to using high-quality ingredients that are prepared simply — à la Chipotle, although the brand’s logo is only flashed on screen at the end. The short is set to a new version of the Backstreet Boys’ 1999 hit song, “I Want It That Way,” recorded by Brittany Howard, the lead singer of Alabama Shakes, and Jim James, the frontman for My Morning Jacket.
“We think ‘Love Story’s’ message will galvanize our loyalists and remind people of the Chipotle they love,” Mark Shambura, Chipotle’s brand marketing director, said.
Chipotle’s four-minute animated video will be shown at movie theaters and on YouTube.
Others are skeptical that this campaign will answer the questions that surround the company.
“Chipotle is trying to reassure its connection to wholesomeness and quality, but if it does not address the fundamental issue here, which is a breakdown of trust between the brand and the target audience, it risks leaving issues unresolved,” said William G. Daddi, president of Daddi Brand Communications, which has restaurants among its clients.
“By not focusing more on the fundamental issues, like what has been done to overcome this crisis for a brand built on raw, fresh ingredients, Chipotle takes a risk that if these food-safety issues should come up again, they have exhausted their credibility with their customers,” Mr. Daddi added.
Despite recent turmoil, the company is sticking to its approach of telling its story with animated characters at longer lengths — “A Love Story” is a little over four minutes — said Todd Hunter, an executive at CAAMarketing, because “animation makes issues a lot more approachable. Animation makes it possible to take on hard issues in a softer way.”
The short was produced with CAA Marketing, a division of Creative Artists Agency, and Passion Pictures, a European animation production company. CAA also worked with Chipotle on earlier animated shorts.
“We have a happy, but restrained, ending,” Mr. Hunter said. “We wanted to leave people optimistic after seeing it.”
Like previous commercial shorts from Chipotle, “A Love Story” will be shown in movie theaters, before the main feature, and posted on YouTube and on social media sites like Snapchat, Mr. Hunter said.
This year, Chipotle distributed coupons for buy-one-get-one-free burritos and offered other food for free. But with sales down around a third at established stores (those open for at least a year), the company clearly felt it needed to do more. So from July through September, theChiptopia program will reward customers based on the frequency of their visits, rather than the amount of money they spend. Typically, customers who visit a store often will be awarded a free burrito after purchasing three.
The pilot may lead to a continuing loyalty program if the company heeds UBS’s conclusion that, among other challenges, the chain’s lack of new food offerings may result in “Chipotle fatigue” as customers tire of its too-familiar entrees.
While Chipotle’s health outbreaks have not been traced to a single cause, its emphasis on natural food led to suspicions that its food sources or preparation methods were tainted. In response, the company has added steps, including preparing its diced tomatoes at its central kitchen, to shore up its claims to food integrity.
Whether the chain has made progress in regaining its customers will be disclosed when the company releases its second-quarter earnings report on July 21.
