Chipotle dishes out $1M in free burritos with Burrito Vault mobile game

Dive Transient:

• Chipotle Mexican Grill launched an interactive recreation referred to as Burrito Vault to dole out over $1 million in free burritos, per a press launch. The activation is timed to Nationwide Burrito Day on April 4. 
• Customers on April 2 and three who performed the sport on-line had been challenged to guess two actual order mixtures to unlock the financial institution, with buy-one-get-one free entrée codes accessible to the primary 50,000 gamers who deciphered the vault code accurately every day. 
• The promotional codes will be redeemed solely on Nationwide Burrito Day. Moreover, all gamers who unlocked the Burrito Vault will probably be entered right into a sweepstakes the place 53 followers — consultant of the over 53 recent substances utilized by Chipotle — will probably be chosen to win free burritos for a yr. 

Dive Perception: 

When burritos are your bread and butter, the nationwide day wherein they’re acknowledged is a no brainer for a playful advertising second. Such is the case for Chipotle, which has staged Nationwide Burrito Day promos during the last a number of years that always nod to cultural touchpoints, together with sending text-to-win codes at no cost burritos through Twitter, utilizing the metaverse to ask shoppers to roll their very own digital burritos and giving followers an opportunity to be awarded “Burritos or Bitcoin.”

This yr’s promotion is not any totally different in its efforts to seize the model’s most loyal clients on a day when they could be most primed to think about shopping for a burrito anyway. Customers on April 2 and three starting at 12pm P.T. every day might entry the Burrito Vault and try and guess two actual order mixtures, ingredient by ingredient, to unlock the financial institution, with the primary 50,000 every day who crack the code in a position to rating a promo code. 

The Burrito Vault recreation is impressed by present pop-culture hype round digital phrase video games, like Wordle, which have change into a key asset in lots of shoppers’ each day routines. Moreover, the transfer permits Chipotle to showcase its greater than 1.34 billion potential burrito mixtures and versatile menu, which is made with over 53 recent substances, per launch particulars. The sport, which allowed shoppers 4 makes an attempt every day, additionally required winners to enter their cellphone quantity to obtain their promotional code, permitting Chipotle to entry useful shopper information. 

Along with the Burrito Vault recreation, Chipotle on April 4 is extending a $0 supply price supply to all of its Chipotle Rewards members ordering through the corporate’s web site or app who use the code “ship.” The chain may also be awarding 53 shoppers who unlocked the Burrito Vault order accurately with free burritos for a yr. 

Advertising round brand-relevant nationwide days might be impactful for Chipotle because it appears to be like to construct its loyalty and rewards initiatives. Final yr, the model additionally provided free live performance tickets by way of social platform Threads as a part of Nationwide Avocado Day to assist entice shoppers to its model and loyalty program and earlier added a “Freepotle” perk to its program that provided members as much as 10 free meals objects all through 2023. In a February earnings name, Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol outlined how these promotions are contributing to the corporate’s backside line.

“From the Freepotle drops, we had been in a position to study extra about our rewards members to enhance our skill to ship related experiences sooner or later,” Niccol stated. “Going ahead, I consider we’re on a multiyear path to commercializing our buyer information and insights into extra focused advertising campaigns and enhancing the general digital expertise that can drive elevated frequency and spend over time.”