Chipotle has mixed natural ingredients and sustainable practices into a recipe for success, yet now the fast-casual chain is taking this fresh message from the table to the screen in a new online comedy series called “Farmed and Dangerous.” The series will feature four 30-minute episodes that serve up a deeper look into the food industry and industrial agriculture, while subtly promoting the brand’s commitment to sustainability and responsibility that has given the chain its competitive advantage. Scheduled to start airing on Hulu on February 17, MediaPost.com dished out details on the series and Huffingtonpost.com fed us a sneak peak.
Other than a Hulu pop-up that points out that the series was produced by Chipotle, the company makes little direct reference to the brand or its logo other than playful puns and pokes at the industry itself. In fact, Chipotle is mentioned only once in four weeks. This shows that Chipotle is putting the message before its marketing, which ultimately and fittingly markets the chain in a more natural and organic way. And the message is not about making Mexican food, but rather making people wary of the ways that industrial agriculture and large food conglomerates play with our food in questionable ways.
The story of the series revolves around a company called Animoil that has developed a petroleum-based animal feed for livestock. Yet a problem with the product is that it endangers animals, along with the company’s image. This demands damage control by a slick CEO from the Industrial Food Image Bureau, with the appropriate acronym IFIB. The result is a sharp-witted series that uses entertainment to enlighten us about urgent issues facing the food industry, from the use of antibiotics on animals to our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels.
Chipotle is promoting the series through the use of wittily worded commercials on YouTube that play on the IFIB acronym and only refer to Chipotle once by intentionally mispronouncing it as Chipodel.
In addition, the company placed a full-page ad in The New York Times on behalf of IFIB titled, “An Open Letter to Everyone with Mouths,” where the fictional agency defends Animoil as an example of innovative industrial agribusinesses. It then seriously, yet satirically, questions the value of sustainable agriculture by pointing out that family farms are disappearing at a rapid rate. And the ad makes no mention of Chipotle.
“It’s first and foremost, entertainment,” said Chris Arnold, communications director for Chipotle. “The purpose of it is to spark conversation to make more people curious about where food comes from. But when you are looking at doing something like this, entertainment has to trump brand or you end up with mediocre content.”
Watch what’s new in media. Contact MDG Advertising today at 561-338-7797 or visit mdgadvertising.com.
MDG Advertising, a full-service advertising agency with offices in Boca Raton and New York, NY, is one of Florida’s top branding firms. MDG’s capabilities include print advertising, direct mail marketing, branding, logo design, creative, digital marketing, media buying and planning, radio and TV advertising, Web design and development, online video advertising, email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, and SEO. To learn about the latest trends in advertising and branding, contact MDG Advertising today at 561-338-7797 or visit mdgadvertising.com.
Written by Michael Del Gigante
- Social Media is Good Medicine for Healthcare Marketing
- Google Outlines Three Online Advertising Trends
- Print Advertising is Dead? Not So Fast.
- 5 Messaging Strategies of Successful Branding Firms
- Study Shows Organic SEO Significantly Undervalued by Marketers
- In-Store Sales Begin Online
- Dos Equis Gives New Meaning to Mobile Marketing
- Search Marketing Spend Rises Attribution Mobile Analytics Remain Big Concerns
- Facebook Displays New Tools for Developing Audience Network Native Ads
- Old Spice Gives Its Ad Campaign A Fresh Spin
- Surprise! Online Ads Work Like Magazine Ads – Online Advertising
- Twitter Starting to Share New Promoted Video Feature with Brands
- Fifty Shades of Grey Marketing Strategy Positions Novel as Fiction Phenomenon
- Listerine Making News with Refreshing Social Media Strategy for World Cup Sponsorship
- Online Reputation Management 101: What Businesses Need to Know [Infographic]
- Local Search Evolved [Infographic]
- Vacationing the Social Media Way [Infographic]
- The ROI of Social Media [Infographic]
- How Social Media Changed The Ad Game [Infographic]
- Should You Build a Mobile App or Mobile Website? [Infographic]
- It’s All About the Images [Infographic]