Abstract

This case is about the ‘Scarecrow’ advertising campaign launched by Chipotle Mexican Grill in September 2013. The Mexican fast-food chain was credited with effectively leveraging Information and Communications Technology to communicate its brand ethos as well as its sustainable practices. The social media marketing campaign consisted of a short animated film released online (only on YouTube) and an advergame for smartphones featuring an anthropomorphized Scarecrow working for an industrial food producer. Through the new campaign, Chipotle tried to project the modern food industry as being dominated by a few giant corporations who served food made from meat produced using unethical practices. The campaign was a huge success with the video getting 6.5 million views on YouTube within two weeks and the game being downloaded 250,000 times from the App Store within 4 days of its release. According to analysts, the emotional angle of the campaign and the challenge to business practices followed by big food producers were the main reasons for its success. Despite its being hailed as one of the top social media marketing campaigns, the campaign was also criticized by some analysts for not projecting the right image of industrial farming in USA and selling nonvegetarian food using vegetarian imagery.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand how Information and Communication Technology can be leveraged for communicating sustainability.
• Understand the importance of social media in the advertising strategy of firms.
• Analyze the reasons for the success of the ‘Scarecrow’ campaign.
• Understand the pros and cons of using social media channels vis-à-vis the traditional communication channels.
• Discuss the issues and challenges in communicating sustainability.

Keywords

Information and Communication Technology, Social media marketing, Viral Marketing, Marketing Communications, Digital marketing strategies, Promotional campaign, Brand messaging, Communicating sustainability, Advertising campaign, Social media channels, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Analysis of Twitter Conversations, Webisodes, Advergame, Value proposition, Sustainable farming, Ethics