Case Study for Agency
03-1012395-418

Chipotle
Ask any Chipotle consumer what they think about the brand, and they
will tell you the food is the amazing. However, this same consumer had
a limited understanding of Chipotle’s philosophy called “Food with
Integrity.” FWI is an internal mantra in which whenever possible,
Chipotle does the socially responsible thing when it comes to quality
of food, treatment of animals and support of independent,
humane/organic farms. This consumer lack of knowledge and interest,
coupled with a brand that for so long had successfully used a humorous
approach to oversized burritos, required us to find a unique way to
create a more “important” conversation.

The strategy was to, in an engaging manner, give the consumer a larger
understanding of how Chipotle not only tastes better, but also comes
from a better place. By not being heavy-handed with the tone, Chipotle
didn’t depart from their personality, but were able to make a dramatic
change in what they were communicating with a more serious message.

Using national billboard, newspaper, magazine, radio, in-store and
online to get the message out there, consumers liked the campaign
enough that they took their own approach to it online with a billboard
generator where users could submit their own “truths.”

Chipotle doesn’t track sales to advertising, but we do know that during
this campaign, Chipotle had the largest first day IPO gain in five
years and is getting more and more notice as a company that cares about
more than just the bottom line.

Thule Car Rack Systems
Thule came to us in 1996 and charged the agency with their problem:
they were losing market share to their main competitor, Yakima.

Through first-hand experience, Thomas and Jonathan knew that Thule
product packaging was very frustrating for retailers. Many products
used the same packaging, which made it difficult to differentiate
between products without opening the boxes. We knew that an
advertising campaign could not stimulate sales if retailers could not
figure out how to easily sale the product. The first priority had to be
to make it easier to purchase the product in the stores. We
recommended Thule put their advertising dollars into re-designing the
packaging and the consumer workbook to make it easier for salespeople,
and in turn, consumers to find specific products and know which
components work together. We went through a strategic concept design
phase out of which came eight unique package designs that were applied
to 71 SKUs for production. We were successful in redesigning the
packaging and purchasing tools – the new boxes stood out on the sales
floor and the retailers no longer became frustrated by the packaging
system.

Most recently, we are working with the Thule European and Japanese
markets to stimulate their growth and shaping Thule product design.

When Thule came to us, they were a 30 million company and had 25% of
the market share while Yakima held 46%. Now, Thule has soared to a 80
million company domestically and 400 million+ internationally and
leads the market with a 45% share, Yakima now with 43%. They are now in
the acquisition phase buying into the trailer and RV accessories
market.