Chipotle: Building Burrito Buzz Since 1993
Chipotle Mexican Grill doesn't spend a lot of money on traditional advertising. In fact, according to a recent article in BusinessWeek, Chipotle spends less on advertising annually than its former parent McDonald's Corp. spends in 48 hours. Not bad for a food chain that saw 13.7% sales growth in 2006. So what's Chipotle's secret? Word of mouth, of course.
Since the company's inception in 1993 it has been a heavy user of word of mouth marketing techniques, from shipping free burritos in 1997 to the Denver courthouse where the Timothy McVeigh trial was taking place, to hosting annual Halloween contests in which customers dressed as a burrito get a free Chipotle burrito for their efforts. Currently, Chipotle is holding a video contest for college students at select universities who have submitted 30-second ad spots that will likely only add to the buzz.
