One recent cultural trend has been the shift away from over-processed and unhealthy foods. Chipotle does a very good job in trying to differentiate themselves from other fast-food names such as McDonald’s and Burger King by stating their points of difference. Recently Chipotle released a new promotional piece, “Scarecrow,” that focused on visual animations to direct a message to viewers rather than mass communication channel.
I really enjoyed the video as it was not only creative and sent a message across without words, it established Chipotle’s stance against big companies and abusive use of animals in processing, positioned themselves as the smaller business with true intentions against the ‘big bad business;’ it justifies its own ethical stance and corporate social responsibility on some of the most controversial and alarming trends within the industry.
Chipotle further differentiates themselves from other competitors and substitutes that use promotional pieces such as celebrity endorsements especially on television through this creative strategy. This video they released on their social media channels not only saves them the costs of above-the-line promotions such as TV commercials, billboards, but it also plays on another popular trend in business, social media and viral content. This video has reached the 6 million views on YouTube and over 300,000 shares on Facebook and similar social media channels. I would say it is well on its way to be considered one of the top examples of marketing.
Through the video, Chipotle even indirectly positions themselves as the right alternative; their logo of a red pepper is used by the Scarecrow when the melancholy dark atmosphere turns bright just as the Scarecrow picks up the pepper and decides to start a new food business that just so happens to be similar foods served at Chipotle.