After
a series of food contamination incidents that began last summer and extended
through this March, Chipotle's same store sales for 1st Q were down 30% and its
stock was down 35%.
In May
they started offering freebies after realizing that their heavy users weren't
coming back. Here's the blog I wrote
then...
I haven't
heard if it's working, but this week they released a new four minute video that
they are hoping will help. Development
of the video began 18 months ago, before the problems started. It goes back to the brand's initial
positioning and message -- the superiority of Chipotle's fresh natural
ingredients over typical fast food. (Lukovitz, 2016)
If you
haven't seen it yet, you can check it out here...
I have
mixed feelings about Chipotle's past video efforts. I voted their introductory ad, which aired on
the 2012 Grammy's best ad of the year.
It's a great example of superior storytelling and since it persuaded
even me to give them a try, it's no surprise that sales increased by 23% in the
first half of that year.
Here's
the blog and video...
But, I
thought their Scarecrow video, released in 2013, was an epic fail since it
reminded me of Soylent Green and made me never want to eat again.
Here's
that blog and video (the link to the video still works) ...
So,
what do you think? Does the new video
work? Is it successfully conveying the
brand positioning? If you stopped eating
at Chipotle, will it make you want to start again? If not, what will?
