Chipotle’s recipe for Cannes

It is not every day that your find someone standing against the conventional farming practices of players in the food industry; and when someone does it, they are no more someone. Challenging the values of American farming, Chipotle made a noise in the world through its ‘Back to Start’ campaign.

From idea to execution and reaction, here’s how Chipotle Mexican Grill created a mark with its unorthodox campaign

‘Back to Start’ questioned the industrialisation of farming while condemning its inhuman process. This first-ever national television spot of the Mexican restaurant took viewers on a trip to a farmer’s shift of instinct from being ruthlessly industrialised to sustainable and humane.

With an amazing animation backed by Nelson’s cover of Coldplay’s famous number “The Scientist”, the ad made waves even at the Grammys.

A well-written unorthodox campaign that speaks for the brand and appeals to people is precisely what deserved the Grand Prix Cannes for the first branded content.

With a persuasively beautiful approach in capturing the firm’s belief and its brand tale, the film by Creative Artists Agency (CAA)was accompanied by a full-fledged campaign that had games, on-ground and in-store activities besides online promotions that allowed people to download the song on iTunes (the leads for which would redirect towards Chipotle Cultivate Foundation).

The real testament to Chipotle’s ‘Back to Start’ campaign besides the overwhelming response was the way they were able to change peoples’ perception. Among other big things, McDonald’s announced to cease all of its pig confinement processes after watching the ad.

More than the music, more than the cute animation and more than the ad space bought, what actually made ‘Back to Start’ viral was its appropriate timing, it was this time in 2012 that people were actually concerned about the origin of their foods they were consuming; it was this time that they wanted to know the process and treatment of the foods they consume.

About the mechanics of the campaign: ‘Back to Start’ was launched with a digital-first strategy and the tempo was build leveraging Chipotle’s social media potential.

It was at a later stage that the campaign was given a paid push on the digital media followed by screening in the theatres and Grammys, which eventually fetched it the Cannes award.

Emphasising the significance of having a supportable food system, Chipotle’s ‘Back to Start’ changed the way people perceived the food chain.

From being famous burritos joint and the most preferred fast food restaurant, Chipotle was now perceived as not only the largest sustainable producer of meat,

the most lucrative concept restaurant but as one who cares about the way food is brought to you, the way it is processed and cultivated. Basically, buildings park in the pop culture. How many people can you say that about?

By:Tushar Kalawatia