Chipotle is at it again with yet another unconventional marketing tactic to attract the attention of the masses. While the majority of big brands are focused on having their ads run during this year’s Super Bowl, Chipotle is making moves on a totally different plane with a new age advertising approach.
New Age Advertising, Present Day Content Marketing
On February 17th, Chipotle will be releasing an original four-part comedy series titled “Farmed and Dangerous.” The series will be available for viewing on the TV-streaming service Hulu and live right alongside conventional TV comedies on the site.
“Farmed and Dangerous” takes a satirical look at industrial-scale farming in an effort to further spread awareness of Chipotle’s concerns about sustainable agriculture and the humane treatment of animals used for meat. According to the NY Times article “Chipotle Blurs Lines With a Satirical Series About Industrial Farming,” Chipotle executives say that this stealth marketing strategy is not about “product integration,” but “values integration.” Therefore, the hope is that by putting such a serious message out there in a comically digestible way that consumers will start to buy their fast food at Chipotle because they believe in the values that the company stands behind.
Even more so, Chipotle’s new age advertising approach can be seen as a crossover strategy living in the realm of content marketing. At its core, the original series is brand-authored content. Of course, now that you’ve read this post and if you stumbled across other explanatory articles about the series, it’s obvious that Chipotle is the brand behind it. But, if you happen to be one of the many consumers who will come across the series as a result of Hulu’s demographic targeting tools and watch without any prior knowledge, it won’t be easy to see Chipotle’s connection. There won’t be any product placement scenarios in the mix because the strategy is much more indirect.
“The best way to sell something would be to create a kind of buzz that would naturally lead to people to buy your product.” ~Mark Crispin Miller, a professor of media studies at New York University.
Chipotle is focusing its branding around its values rather than its products, which is a proven advertising (and content marketing) tactic. By caring, in a very animated way, about the supply chain associated with its products, Chipotle seriously stands out from other fast food brands. Moreover, at $250,000 an episode, Chipotle’s wish is that the comedic series will have an impact on consumer spending habits that will in turn help to impact industrial farming regulation.
Leading the Way with Video Content Marketing Campaigns
Chipotle is a brand known for their great video-based content. In the recent past, it has published two short films, The Scarecrow and Back to the Start, on YouTube about the downsides of factory farming. With millions of video views and songs performed by Willie Nelson and Fiona Apple, the two videos have received a lot of buzz since they’ve been published. These two videos characterized Chipotle as a leader in the content marketing space, creating a great foundation for it to continue to put content out there that consumers will readily accept and be intrigued by.
Next up, Chipotle will release “Farmed and Dangerous.” To get a glimpse of what you can expect to see, check out the official trailer below.
The official trailer, along with other videos to help set the stage for the series, were uploaded on YouTube on January 26th. At the time of our last check-in (on January 30th), the video had 100,957 views. That’s impressive by our standards!
Watch & Win Giveaway Component + More
But, wait…there’s more! In an effort to promote viewer interactivity with the series, Chipotle is incorporating a mobile-based “Farmed and Dangerous” trivia game that will give those tuning in to the episodes a chance to win edible prizes by texting answers to trivia questions. Weekly prizes and a grand prize will be up for grabs.
Of course, you can discover even more on the farmedanddangerous.com site, including the music artist featured in the series, behind the scenes action and access to the pathway that will lead you to learn more about Petro Pellet.
Will you watch “Farmed and Dangerous” series when it’s released? Let us know in the comments section below!