Back to the Start
Chipotle Mexican Grill2011
Back to the Start is a 2011 cinema and television commercial (2:20 animated film) for Chipotle Mexican Grill, created by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Los Angeles.
Why it works
A farmer's family pig farm grows, step by step, into an industrial animal factory of cramped pens and hormone-pumped livestock, until a crisis of conscience sends him "back to the start." Johnny Kelly's animated film for Chipotle, scored to Willie Nelson singing Coldplay's "The Scientist," sells a sourcing philosophy as a fable rather than a menu. Created with Creative Artists Agency and produced by Nexus in London, it launched on YouTube in 2011, played on some 10,000 cinema screens, then ran uncut during the 2012 Grammy Awards as the chain's first national TV ad in its 18-year history. It is studied as the breakout case for purpose-led branded content crossing into paid media: Nelson's recording went to No. 1 on the iTunes country chart, and at Cannes Lions 2012 the film took the Film Grand Prix while its wider Cultivate campaign won the festival's first-ever Branded Content & Entertainment Grand Prix.
Techniques
- Storytelling Tells a fable of a farmer whose family pig farm grows into an industrial factory until a crisis of conscience sends him back to the start.
- Purpose and cause Sells a sourcing philosophy that turns away from cramped pens and hormone-pumped livestock, rather than anything on the menu.
- Jingles and music Willie Nelson's cover of a Coldplay song carries the film's emotion so strongly that the recording tops the iTunes country chart in its own right.
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