Category: Marketing Ideas

Chipotle’s new ad has been getting a lot of buzz lately. It’s a great campaign that manages to feel more like a short film than a TV spot. First of all, it’s very artistically done. The imagery is incredible, the story is compelling, and the music features a haunting version of “Pure Imagination” (from the Willy Wonka soundtrack) performed by Fiona Apple. Secondly, it caters to the socially conscious era we live in. It makes the case the food industry is in trouble and not producing food with as fresh and healthy ingredients as it could and should (with some exaggeration to get their point across). The story ends by introducing Chipotle as a glimmer of hope and an example for the way food should be sustainably produced. Lastly, in conjunction with the spot, they have created a free iPhone game, which extends the message into a whole new (and potentially time consuming) channel. It’s a well done game that’s fun to play and keeps with the story.

Kudos for Chipotle’s Marketing team for creating a marketing campaign which is both subtle and powerful.

I came across this article in Ad Week today. Burger King is pretending to change it’s name to Fries King. It’s kind of a strange promotion gimmick but hey, if it gets people talking, it’s working right?

The funny thing is it’s been done before. I can remember back to one of my advertising classes in college where we debated whether Pizza Hut’s claim to change there name to “Pasta Hut” was real or not. Of course, the fact that it was April 1st should have given us a clue!

When you think of beer ads, what traditionally comes to mind are images of parties, women or something really off the wall and wacky. This new ad by Guinness goes a completely different direction and actually makes a beer ad that is inspiration. I’m not a beer drinker but I commend Guinness and their ad agency, BBDO, for creating an ad with substance instead of yielding to lowest common denominator.

Another great book by the marketing guru himself, Seth Godin. I’m a recent convert to Godin, after being introduced to his work by a co-worker of mine. Earlier this year, I read Tribes, listened to audiobooks of Purple Cow and Permission Marketing, have watched all of his TED Talks, and have listened to his Startup School Podcast (so far my favorite). I’m soaking it all in and loving it. In Poke the Box, Seth talks about how so often, we let fear and risk get in the way of starting something remarkable. The irony, Seth points out, is that it’s more risky to do nothing and continue with the status quo than to innovate and explore new ideas. Ultimately, the businesses that are afraid to innovate and try new ideas are the ones that can’t keep up and collapse.

“All great programmers learn the same way. They poke the box. They code something and what the computer does. They change it and see what the computer does. They repeat the process again and again until they figure out how the box works. The box might be a computer or it might be a market or it might be a customer or it might be your boss. It’s a puzzle, one that can be solved in only one way – by poking.”

At only 83 pages, it’s a short read. Seth has organized the book into short, 1-2 page chapters. His writing style with this book is a little bit scattered and non-linear, like a compilation of blog posts. Never-the-less it’s an entertaining, insightful and motivational read.