BACKGROUND

Ten years ago, Chipotle premiered the award-winning stop-motion film "Back to the Start." The film told the story of a farmer's embrace–and subsequent rejection–of "factory" farming. The film's soundtrack featured an original rendition of Coldplay's "The Scientist" by Country Music legend and friend to farmers Willie Nelson. "Back to the Start" expressed Chipotle's industry-leading commitment to sourcing its produce and protein from family farms.

 EXECUTION

"A Future Begins" launched with a YouTube masthead more akin to a feature film than an ad, and the release of the original reimagination of "Fix You" on Spotify, Apple, and more. 

A series of documentary shorts launched on farmers.Chipotle.com with real stories that inspired "A Future Begins." 

Retail, Digital, and Social extensions included a mini-movie poster on 5 Million Chipotle bags with a QR code to auto-play the film and connect to exclusive making-of-the-film and song. Fans loved a record-smashing Snapchat lens. 

 OUTCOMES

"A Future Begins" far-exceeded the success of its predecessor on engagement, efficient reach, and more – and garnered the highest social engagement of any piece of Chipotle brand content or advertising in company history, even outperforming Chipotle's 2020 Super Bowl ad despite a far-smaller paid media buy, also making it the most efficient brand content or ad in Chipotle history.

HIGHLIGHTS

– 50MM+ social with 11MM+ YouTube and 27MM+ TikTok.

– 4.7MM+ Organic (unpaid, un-promoted) Spotify streams of Kacey Musgraves' "Fix You"

– PR: 484 stories with 357MM+ earned media impressions

– Best YouTube completion rates of any Chipotle content ever

– 5MM bags with mini-poster and QR Code achieved record-setting engagement