Jack Blog
February 14th, 2012 By Jack Morton
Valentine’s Day gives me an excuse to comment (as so many others have) on Chipotle’s “Back to the Start”. This two-minute ad has been steadily accumulating YouTube views since August but inspired a frenzy of social commentary when it aired nationally during the Grammys.
The connection between pigs and Valentine’s Day? Passion, of course.
It’s Chipotle’s passion for “food with integrity” that so impresses me. Most brands assume consumers aren’t interested in or shouldn’t know about the supply-chain: where ingredients come from, how they’re made and what their social impact may be. (Indeed Fast Company has pointed out how unusual this is in the fast food space.)
Chipotle’s passion for their ingredients and where they come from is in a class of its own. They’ve orchestrated a shift in the conversation around ingredients that some said stole the spotlight during the Grammys (a big feat given the competition between animated pigs and, say, Adele).
It may be off-putting to some (I dunno, people who don’t like cute farm animals?) but I’d hazard that it will inspire intense loyalty in its customers (it certainly does in me) as well as ever-increasing awareness and market share for the brand.
