Denver Business Journal — As part of its ongoing attempt to make its brand “more culturally relevant,” Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) is preparing to roll out a new television ad campaign that shows a side of the chain restaurant that it’s rarely attempted to show off: its sense of humor.
The ads, which will begin airing full-time in September, are part of a bigger-picture re-do of the image of a chain that, while the 14th-largest in America, has sometimes been seen as stuffy or overly serious. That re-branding also includes an increased presence on social media, a slew of potential new menu items and a new loyalty program. And it comes as the Denver-based company looks to close as many as 65 restaurants.
Under founder and former CEO Steve Ells, who stepped aside in February and brought on former Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol to take his place, Chipotle emphasized its fresh ingredients, local sourcing and lack of additives and hormones in its products — often in a way that bordered on preaching, especially as Ells liked to contrast his company’s practices to those of other chains. Television advertising campaigns were used only selectively, as Chipotle relied on word-of-mouth recommendations and a fervent fan base right up until an E. coli outbreak sent dozens of its customers to hospitals in late 2015 and left the company in a yearlong spiral and then slower-than-expected recovery that led to Ells’ exit.
The new ads — which were tested during the NBA finals and during season finales of select television programs — zero in on the cutting and preparing of food and boast again of the brand’s “real ingredients.” But most then end with a humorous curveball, mentioning things like how the chain had to pay extra for slow-motion cameras or how officials like the sound that the grill makes.
Read more at the Denver Business Journal: https://bit.ly/2KR9UU5
