Chipotle Goes for Gold

To celebrate its 18th anniversary, the fast-casual chain is wrapping its burritos in gold.

March 04, 2011

DENVER - Beginning this week, Chipotle Mexican Grill is celebrating its 18th anniversary by switching from its iconic silver foil to gold foil for its burritos.

"Traditionally an 18th anniversary is celebrated with porcelain, but that clearly wouldn't have worked," said Mark Crumpacker, the company's chief marketing officer. "So we opted for gold. It's a lot easier to wrap around the burritos and let's face it, it's pretty stylish in a 70s sort of way."

The gold foil is also meant to draw attention to what Chipotle calls Food With Integrity ?" that it never stops looking for the very best ingredients made out of respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers in which they come from.

In addition to the gold foil, the company is launching an ad campaign that includes outdoor, radio and online elements. Chipotle is also introducing a newspaper titled The Gold Burrito Digest that will be in its restaurants throughout the campaign, and a new menu panel featuring a text short code (text GOLD to 888222) that allows customers to learn more about Food With Integrity using their mobile phones.

In April, the company will launch an online contest called "Wrap What You Love" where gold lovers will submit photos of objects they love wrapped in gold foil. Chipotle will offer prizes for the most creative submissions, including several 24-karat solid gold Chipotle burrito coins and $10,000 in cash. The online campaign will also raise money for the non-profit FamilyFarmed.org in support of its programs to help family farmers bring more local food to market.

"Limited-time promotions are the backbone of most fast-food marketing campaigns," said Crumpacker. "But we aren??t likely to create any earthquake-tacos, plastic toys or collectible cups at Chipotle. So we decided to do a limited time promotion that highlights the unlimited time nature of our great ingredients."

What??s next for Chipotle marketing? "Maybe we'll switch from gold to platinum which, interestingly, looks a lot like the aluminum foil we have always used," Crumpacker said.

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