Students' low-cost Chipotle ads draw 18 million online viewers

Nation's Restaurant News 12/4/06

Chipotle Mexican Grill has parlayed a $40,000 offer to college students for their marketing creations into a contest that has drawn more than 18 million viewers to special content on the YouTube website.

What began as a simple competition among advertising and film students has turned into an underground phenomenon on YouTube.com, whose array of short videos has attracted countless Web surfers and a recent $1.7 billion buyout of the website by Google.

In the first month that the contest's top two 30-second ads were posted online, more than 8.4 million views were logged for each. That put the spots near the top of the most-viewed YouTube videos. The winning ad was submitted by students at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and the runner-up was created by students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Chris Arnold, a spokesman for Denver-based Chipotle, said the YouTube component was something of an afterthought. "We were doing the ad contest, which was originally just a creative thing," Arnold said. "Then we got the idea of posting them on YouTube and challenging the students to drive viewers to see those spots."

All the advertisements, which carry the Chipotle logo on the site, had 17 million viewers in total. Arnold said there was no charge to post the ads on YouTube.com.

Almost the only other cost, he explained, was $40,000 in prize money, with SMU students and their school winning $20,000, while UNL's team and the school won $10,000 for the runner-up prize, as well as $10,000 for the most viewed ad entry on YouTube.

"There were some small out-of-pocket costs for us, but the reality is that we couldn't have produced one 30-second commercial ourselves for $40,000," Arnold said, "let alone produce the 17 million viewers of the ads. It was really a cost-effectivething. I think the students had a really good time with it."

Chipotle's target demographic is 18- to 34-year-olds, and college students are heavy users. "College students are certainly in the sweet spot of that," Arnold said.

The quality of the resulting ads impressed Arnold. "Some are good and some are really alarming," he said with a laugh. "The best ones were really innovative and spot-on in terms of understanding the brand," he added.

"It was really fun for us to see how well some of the students 'got' what we are all about," Arnold said. There were more than 70 entries from more than 20 colleges and universities.

Mark Kerins, assistant professor of cinema and television at SMU, said, "We ended up with 15 students, nine from advertising and six from cinema." Kerins said the teamwork allowed SMU advertising students, who generally work in print media, to create television ads and the cinema students to have professional-looking spots on their resumes.

"For Chipotle, I think it was very smart. It was research, basically," Kerins said. "Think how much money it would cost for a professional advertising firm to design the ads and a professional production company to get them on TV. The prize money wouldn't have paid to produce the ads. They are also finding out what this generation is thinking about their brand."

The SMU ad, titled "The Wall," won everyone over at Chipotle, said Jim Adams, the company's director of marketing. "It used our food without hitting you over the head with it," he said. "It was hip and targeted the demographic of the people who produced it. It was simply outstanding in virtually every way."

Nick McCarthy, a 21-year-old Houston junior in SMU's film department, said he plans to use his winnings to buy a new computer. McCarthy, who had not eaten at a Chipotle before working on the commercial, said wryly: "I'm really liking it now."

He added that Chipotle got a lot of exposure as well. From a creative perspective, the student added, the SMU ad showed "the fun of the quick editing. It's a little goofy, and there's a little romance going on. It's fun, and it's short."

McCarthy said he would do it again. "It was a good educational experience," he said. "It was the first time of combining the forces of our advertising and film departments to work on a collective goal. It really paid off."

Other companies are using consumer-created content to further their messages. Quiznos Sub, also based in Denver, has announced plans to follow up its recent TV campaign, which claimed that competitor Subway skimps on product quality and quantity, with a new campaign in the same vein.

Quiznos has teamed with online video network IFILM to invite consumers to create a new Quiznos versus Subway commercial and is offering $10,000 and national TV exposure to the winner.

The winning spot is scheduled to air Dec. 15 on VH1's "Best Year Ever" installment of its "Best Week Ever" show, and in New York's Times Square during the traditional New Year's Eve celebration. VH1 talent and the Quiznos creative team will judge the entries.

Chipotle will consider reprising its YouTube contest link, Arnold said. "We will certainly look at it again," he said. "But what made this so successful is that not a lot of people are doing it."

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