Vol. 102 Chipotle: A Halloween tradition meets tech 🌯

Case Studied
Transforming a Halloween tradition

Tentpole moments tend to work very well for food chains. Annual recurring activations can become highly anticipated traditions for consumers. 

Just look at Wawa’s Hoagie Fest or Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte—these campaigns are 17-years old and 22-years old, respectively, and widely beloved by audiences. For Chipotle, their annual Boorito campaign has been happening every Halloween since 2000. But for its 21st year running, the brand decided to give it a refresh. 

This week, Case Studied explores how Chipotle saw its biggest digital sales day ever by reimagining a Halloween classic.

The Brief

Chipotle’s Boorito promotion has become core to Chipotle’s brand calendar. Traditionally, customers who dressed in costume received discounted burritos in-store. It mixes fun and fandom in a way their consumers really respond to, particularly millennial consumers. 

By 2021, though, the Boorito event didn’t have strong awareness among Gen Z. And with pandemic restrictions still affecting in-person traffic and younger audiences increasingly spending their time in virtual spaces, the brand needed to rethink how to keep Boorito booming and relevant. 

To reinvigorate Boorito, Chipotle went to the metaverse. Specifically, they turned to Roblox, the booming gaming and social platform with a strong Gen Z following. At the time, Roblox saw 50 million daily active users, 67% of which were under the age of 16. In other words, the platform offered the audience and scale Chipotle was looking for, plus the opportunity to innovate and establish the brand as an early emerger.

The Execution

Chipotle partnered with Day One Agency to launch their 2021 Boorito campaign on Roblox. They built a virtual version of a Chipotle restaurant as well as a corn maze that featured the same fresh ingredients the chain actually serves. 

Users were invited to come into the store front in virtual costumes—like the branded Chip Bag Ghost or Burrito Mummy—to receive a code that they could redeem for a free burrito IRL. If they raced through the Boorito Corn Maze too, they could snag additional virtual prizes. 

Users could access the virtual restaurant starting on October 28 but to build anticipation pre-launch, Chipotle tapped Roblox creators. The brand worked with influencers known for leaking Roblox news to drive awareness and excitement. They also gave Roblox influencers early access to the experience, encouraging them to create first-person YouTube videos demonstrating how the maze worked. Those videos were timed to premiere on launch day, providing users with authentic previews from established voices.

Two days before the public launch, Chipotle officially announced the Boorito x Roblox partnership, giving media outlets and fans time to spread the word. Launch day came and within three minutes of it opening on the platform, Roblox crashed. That immediately sparked a rumor that Chipotle’s Boorito campaign caused a global outage on the platform. 

Once Roblox stabilized, Chipotle organized a make-good offer for fans by giving additional free entree codes. From Oct. 29-31 starting at 6:30 pm ET, the first 30,000 visitors to reach the in-game cashier while in costume received a promo code for a free real-world burrito. Players could also collect exclusive virtual items to customize their avatars, keeping them engaged beyond the free burrito drops.

According to the brand, the activation made Chipotle the first restaurant to open a virtual location on Roblox.

The Results

Chipotle’s Boorito campaign resulted in Chipotle’s biggest digital sales day ever. It drew over 8 million visits from Roblox players and 3.5 million unique plays on the platform. The restaurant distributed $1 million worth of free burritos, with daily code drops claimed within minutes.

The event also generated widespread earned media coverage across outlets like Fast Company, Forbes, and Ad Age, plus plenty of chatter online about whether the Roblox crash was proof of the brand’s cultural pull. All in all, The chain earned 4.6+ billion PR impressions, plus over 50k social mentions.

The Takeaways

1)  Translate real-world rituals into digital experiences.

Chipotle didn’t abandon Boorito, they evolved it. By transforming a longstanding in-store activation into a virtual one, the brand honored its tradition while introducing it to the next generation of consumers.

If your brand has a recurring event or seasonal hook, consider how to translate its spirit—not just its format—into a digital space that extends engagement with the audience you want to target. Find out where they live in the online world and meet them there. 

2) Build anticipation through creators.

The pre-launch buzz was engineered skillfully for the 2021 Boorito campaign. Early influencer access and coordinated content drops fueled viral attention, while limited daily reward codes in the campaign helped create urgency.

For your own activations, consider how you can leverage influencer partnerships to build anticipation. If you can work in built-in scarcity mechanics as well, even better. The combination of anticipation + exclusivity can do a lot of legwork in generating campaign momentum.

3) Go where your next audience is.

Rather than trying to pull Gen Z into Chipotle’s world, the brand entered theirs. Roblox was a native environment for participation and discovery with that audience, and the brand made sure to enter in a way that felt organic.

As you look at campaign planning, don’t write off newer platforms right away. If there’s an emerging channel that aligns with your target audience’s behavior, be open to exploring how you can show up there. You can always start small, test, and iterate. 

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