We wrote a quick post at EOD yesterday arguing that now might just be the time for Chipotle to partner with a creative agency again for a comeback campaign.
And wouldn’t you know it, the chain that told the world it didn’t need a creative AOR decided to absolutely NOT take our advice because its marketing team was months ahead of us, durrr.
Chipotle went with CAA rather than a “traditional” agency for the third animated film in the series that started with Willie Nelson covering Coldplay to promote the company’s earthbound ethos. It’s pretty much what you would expect: a sappy, faux-Pixar tale illustrating a love story between two cutthroat capitalists set to a folk-rock cover of the Backstreet Boys(?!).
We get it: artificial ingredients are (literally) evil. But competition and business innovation are good … until they lead you away from your founding vision and your original product: straight-up no bullshit orange juice.
This is all very much in keeping with Chipotle’s long-running strategy, but how will it land with the perpetually bored, easily frightened American consumer?
Our colleagues speculate today that the ad trilogy amounts to a cry for help from a company lost in its own marketing maze, and this narrative makes some sense. But the things that have distracted Chipotle from its core philosophy have not been fake colors and flavors or movie tie-in campaigns or a pressure to compete more directly with the old-school chains it had previously left in the dust. They were incidents that largely occurred outside the company’s control, and they weren’t exactly shocking: food naturally collects bacteria. Marketing executives naturally turn to drugs to escape stressful professional lives.
We’re not sure that this campaign will be able to move attention away from the “scandals” and back to the food. On a consumer level, this blogger loves Chipotle but can’t remember the last time he ate there—and therein lies the problem.
CREDITS
Client: Chipotle
Title: A Love Story
Agency: CAA
Agency Producer: Amanda Jiminez / Jay Brooker
Agency Creatives: Todd Hunter / Tony Fur
Production & Animation Company: Passion Pictures
Director: Saschka Unseld
Art Director: Katy Wu
Executive Producer: Debbie Crosscup / Ryan Goodwin-Smith
Producer: Sibylle Preuss
Animation & VFX Credits (Passion Pictures)
VFX Supervisor: Neil Riley
CG Supervisor: Christian Mills
Animation: Wesley Coman/ Chris Welsby/ Aldo Gagliardi/ Cath Brooks/ Catherine Elvidge/ Karin Matteson/ Scott Bono
Texture & Shading: Ian Matthews / Katreena Erin Bowell/ David Domingo Jimenez / Leigh Van Der Byl/ Louise Chassain / Sara Diaz / Stuart Hall/ Arkin Esfref / Alex Holman / David Watson/ Leigh van der Byl/ Camille Perrin/ Patrick Kraft/ Roxanne Martinez
Rigging: Morgan Evans / Matteo Nibbi / Giulia Dell’Armi
VFX: Jamie Franks / Colin Perrett/ Kwai Keung IP/ Junaid Syed/ Antonios Deftarios/ Guillaume Zaouche/ Gabriele Veronese/ Matt Moyes/ Robin Nordenstein/ Alice Jarre
Light & Render: Christian Mills/ Richard Moss / Stuart Hall / Adrian Russell/ Patrick Kraftt/ Alex Holman/ Roxanne Martinez/ David Watson/ Nikolay Kulishev/ Simon Maddocks/ Francois Pons
Compositing: Johnny Still/ Andre Bittencourt/ Raphael Theolade/ Valeria Romano/ Javier Cid/ Alex Grey
Animation Supervisor: Jay Boose
CG Coordinators: Joost Zoetebier / Suzanne Forward
Character & Production Design: Katy Wu / Amandine Pecharman
Graphic Designer: Davide Saraceno
Post Production Services: Technicolor Postworks NY
Colourist: Max Horton
Music Producer: Blake Mills
Music Performance: Brittany Howard, Jim James
