Chipotle Scarecrow is the future of advergaming on mobile

http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/30/chipotle-scarecrow-is-the-future-of-advergaming-on-mobile/

by alamgir_mand • 13 years ago

25 20 13 years ago

This is a good writeup about an extremely interesting subject, and the beginning of what is sure to be a major trend. But the author kind of lost me here:

"Chipotle Scarecrow will, without a doubt, go down as one of the most successful marketing campaigns in history."

Really? On what metrics? It seems extremely successful as far as reach is concerned, sure. It probably drove a good deal of positive brand sentiment, which is great. But how did this campaign drive sales of burritos? How did it drive gains in share against competitors? What was the actual ROI?

It always bugs me when people talk about "marketing" as though it's purely about reaching eyeballs. That's a big part of advertising, which is a subset of marketing. But it's not how a successful marketing campaign is solely measured. Especially when we're talking about marketing for a restaurant chain. Distributing a very engaging mobile game is a wonderful and rare accomplishment, but Chipotle is in the food business. It needs to demonstrate that Mobile Success A led to Business Success B.

This campaign was extremely clever, creative and innovative. It was a huge hit on mobile devices, and it garnered a great deal of attention. All of those things are to be commended. But unless the ROI was positive, unless this campaign really moved the needle in a major way on sales, we can't speak about how "successful" it actually was -- let alone speak in hyperbolic terms about how it was one of "the most successful marketing campaigns in history."

In time it may well prove to be a huge success. Perhaps even an enormous success. But the jury is still out.

dmoy• 13 years ago

Attribution modeling is an incredibly difficult problem, yes. Anyone who can come up with a really good way to measure this kind of stuff is going to make bank.

I agree that from a lot of perspectives the way people talk about branding campaigns looks real.... iffy, for lack of a better term. Everyone knows that it somehow works, but nobody's exactly sure how yet. Nobody can really measure the impact yet even.

mwilcox• 13 years ago

Agreed- it's a huge stretch to call it one of the most successful marketing campaigns in history. I do think it will be remembered though, as this will likely mark a big jump in budgets of advergames. Advergames themselves are nothing new.

MaxGabriel• 13 years ago

Maybe when they say "optimized for iPhone 4S or newer" it's just that performance is bad, because it downloads fine for me on an iPhone 4.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chipotle-scarecrow/id6894702...

evan_• 13 years ago

That's exactly what they mean. Apple doesn't let developers release software that discriminates on hardware models, just OS versions and some hardware features.

asperous• 13 years ago

This kind of thing kind of scares me to be honest. It's almost a peek into a horrific dystopian future where piracy is so rampant that games, music videos, and perhaps even movies are only made as a marketing effort and are filled with advertising, branding, and product placement.

mertd• 13 years ago

Your fear is misplaced.

1) The game exclusively on IOS, where piracy is minuscule. It couldn't have been the motivator.

2) People are willing to pay for good quality and convenience instead of pirating (e.g., Steam, Netflix, game consoles).

alexqgb• 13 years ago

Well, that preference also has a lot to do with the fact that pirate sites have been criminalized, marganilized, and otherwise made sketchier and / or more difficult than they would be without state-imposed friction.

gdeglin• 13 years ago

Piracy is actually very high on iOS, especially when it comes to paid apps: "when Wind-up Knight for iOS was a paid app, the piracy rate reportedly went 80%" (http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/07/piracy-rates-are-higher-on-...)

This is one reason why so many games are going freemium and sever backed. (Even iAP is frequently hacked unless the purchases are stored or at least verified on a server).

diziet• 13 years ago

The review breakdown for this app is all over the place: https://sensortower.com/ios/us/chipotle-mexican-grill/app/ch...

Getting the users was indeed a concentrated marketing effort that took quite a bit of advertising, too.

gutsy• 13 years ago

I downloaded and played the game one morning as fast as I could to get the free burrito and never touched it again. I didn't watch the video, I didn't read any of the crap on there...I basically just did the bare minimum and got my free burrito.

I have a feeling that's most people who downloaded that game. I can't imagine it brought back in a ton of revenue.

But, I could be completely wrong! Maybe most people aren't heartless bastards who just want a free burrito!

kevinconroy2• 13 years ago

"Maybe most people aren't heartless bastards who just want a free burrito!"

No, most people got a free burrito and ordered a soda and/or chips with it.

And that, my friends, is Step 3: Profit!

NovemberWest2• 13 years ago

A burrito at Chipotle is something upwards of $6 (exact price varies depending on the kind of meat, etc). The drink and chips do not begin to cover it. You only get profit in this scenario is they become repeat customers.

selmnoo• 13 years ago

Wait, you get a free burrito by downloading the app? I don't see that being advertised anywhere on Chipotle's website. If it's true I finally have a reason to play a game.

danso• 13 years ago

I haven't tried the game at hand, but I'll say that the Chipotle ordering app is by far one of the most revolutionary day to day uses of the iPhone, in my admittedly not exciting life. Build a burrito, save the order for future purchases...at any time, just send the order to the nearest Chipotle, and when you get there, you skip the line to pick up your order. Few other consumer apps so impact such a traditional and frequent workflow

andrewpi• 13 years ago

Quite puzzling why they still haven't brought that app to Android.

herbig• 13 years ago

Reminds me of Chex Quest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chex_Quest

Chipotle Scarecrow is the future of advergaming on mobile

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