A digital marketing analysis of Chipotle during the E. Coli crisis.

1. Digital Marketing:
A presentation by Linda Moreno, Sujun Liu,
Yao Xie, Julian Gross, and Jasmine Jones

2. $225B Market
Competition
Level
Barriers
to Entry

3. Market
Segmentation
42%
Burgers 14%
Sandwiches 10%
Chicken
10%
Asian 9%
Pizza
8%
Mexican
7%
Other

4. Industry
Competitors

5. 70%
is the total expenditure on food eaten outside the home ( U.S. Census
Bureau).
Demographic trends show baby boomers and health conscious
consumers have a direct effect on the fast-food industry.

6. Background
● Food with Integrity
● Focused on sustainability
● “Food served fast didn’t have to be fast food”

7. History and Today

9. Challenge: Chipotle v. E Coli
● 58 people infected
● 21 hospitalized
● 1,900 store closures
● 9 lawsuits
● 30% drop in sales

10. How does Chipotle
use
Digital Marketing?

12. Website:
Clean, fresh, and
mobile friendly

13. Mobile: Chipotle App

14. SEO: Mexican Food vs. Mexican Grill

15. Integrated Social Media:
Fun, creative, image focused

16. @ChipotleSnaps

17. Email Marketing: Focused on promotions
FREE CHIPS AND GUAC. THIS IS NOT A GAME. ACTUALLY IT SORT OF
IS.

18. Content Marketing
&
Brand Building

19. SMS
➔ Sweepstakes
Cultivate Festival
➔ Promotions/Events
Youth Soccer BOGO
➔ Giveaways
Guac Hunter = Free Guac

20. Video Marketing
Simple, straightforward, and
informative videos.
Tip
Show how your solution
helps the person in the
story reach his or her
goals.

21. Overall
Transparent
communications
Food with integrity
Mouth-watering
imagery >>
(sorry y’all)

22. SWOT Analysis
Strengths
● Food made with ingredients from
sustainable sources (first non GMO fast
food chain)
● Marketing programs: Online promotions &
Offline brand experiences
● Strong engagement with customers
● Unique SEO: Mexican Grill
Weaknesses
● Higher food cost
● Shortages of naturally-raised meats
● Greater risk in food-borne illness
● Ingredients supplied by third-party
distributors
● Open question on whether hidden
ingredients such as oils and starches are
GMO free
● Slow crisis communication response
Opportunities
● Domestic expansion
● International expansion
● Growing foodservice market
● New Product Categories
Threats
● E. Coli Outbreak (Nov. 2015 )
● Intense competition
● Increasing labor cost
● Protest from agriculture industry

23. Business & Communication
“Our advertising and promotional
programs, in-store communications, and
other design elements all help to
communicate something about what
differentiates Chipotle from typical fast
food. ”
—— Chipotle Annual Report 2015

24. Facebook in 2011

25. Consistent
Growth
● Facebook: April 2004
● Chipotle App: August
2009
● Twitter: May 2010
● YouTube: Feb 2011
● Instagram: 2013
● Cultivate Festival
App: April 2015
● Snapchat: 2015

26. Increasing Spend on Ads & Marketing

27. 36%
In January 2016 (Due To The Food Safety Investigation)
Before the Guac Hunter Game Launched
Plus
Brands with
reputation could be
hit worse by negative
publicity due to
failing customers.

28. Guac Hunter
*5.3 million
requesting the
offer
*67%
redemption
rate

29. Guac Hunter Web Traffic

30. Program
EXECUTION

31. Target Audiences
➔ Existing customers
➔ Millennials/18-34
➔ Organic consumers

32. Key Messages
➔ Food with Integrity
➔ Commitment to Sustainability

33. Tactics
➔ Tactic 1
Create a separate webpage to address
updates on e. Coli
➔ Tactic 2
Include updates and incentives within
their mobile app
➔ Tactic 3
Feature promotions on snapchat/email
➔ Tactic 4
Cross promote website information on
the app
Strategies
➔ Strategy 1
Address e. Coli concerns by maintaining
the transparent messaging that aligns
with the Chipotle brand
➔ Strategy 2
Improve upon direct and mobile
marketing
➔ Strategy 3
Maintain strong social media presence

34. Evaluation
Success MetricsTip
Show how your solution
helps the person in the
story reach his or her
goals.

35. Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs)
➔ Measuring Chipotle’s
performance against
objectives/goals

36. Create a Separate Webpage for E. Coli
Page tracking
❏ Bounce rate
❏ Average session
duration
Traffic Sources
❏ Organic search
(Google, Yahoo)
❏ Paid search
❏ Referral
❏ Social (Twitter,
Facebook)
❏ Direct traffic
Audience
❏ New & returning
visitors
(sessions)
❏ Unique visitors
(users)

37. Social Media
➔ Facebook
• Page likes
• Comments
• Shares
• Click through
• Reach
➔ Twitter
• Favorites
• Retweets
• Mentions
• Click through
➔ Snapchat
• Views (the purple eye)
• Screenshots (the green
arrows)
• Total story completion
• Completion rate

38. Mobile Marketing
❏ Number of times the app was
accessed during first day/week
❏ Session time (time spent in-app)
❏ Number of screens/pages
accessed during in-app visit
❏ Permission granted to the app

39. Thanks guys!
Q&A