During the summer of 2022, Chipotle acted at the speed of social to engage its fans.
With platforms becoming increasingly pay-to-play and requiring bolder work to break through, it’s not an easy time to be a brand on social media. But Chipotle took the challenge head on, driven by service to, and the growth of, its superfans—the 30-million-strong Chipotle Rewards loyalty club.
During the summer of 2022, with limited live TV events to drive reach, Chipotle acted at the speed of social to engage its fans.
When crypto took over the headlines, Chipotle gave the conversation a positive spin with its “Buy the Dip” game, in which online players could win free crypto or instead play for “dips”—1-cent guacamole or 1-cent queso. The promotion, which came to a head on National Avocado Day, drove more than 2 billion PR impressions and a 35% week-over-week increase in Rewards enrollments.
When 7-year-old “Corn Kid” Tariq became a breakout star on TikTok, Chipotle was the first brand to partner with him, making a video promoting Chipotle’s roasted corn salsa. The stunt garnered more than 13 million engagements, 110 million views and 1.1 billion PR impressions.
Chipotle understands its fans—even the sneaky ones. Knowing, via social listening, that some were using complimentary water cups for free fill-ups at the beverage fountain, the brand released a lemonade-scented “water cup candle.” The candles sold out in less than four minutes and drove 1.6 billion PR impressions.
By summer’s end, Chipotle racked up over 7.4 billion PR impressions, 46 million social engagements, 147 billion social impressions and 867,000 posts about Chipotle. This helped the brand to a 13.7% revenue increase in its fiscal third quarter.
