Chipotle: helping their audience achieve their wellness goals

According to a Chipotle running survey, nearly 7 out of 10 Chipotle consumers who are runners said they are likely or very likely to eat Chipotle after training for a race. 

Chipotle always aims to be an early mover with emerging platforms and partners. Seeing the alignment between Strava’s highly engaged community of 120 million athletes and Chipotle’s passionate running community, Chipotle saw an opportunity to partner with Strava to bring our running communities together to win January.

Chipotle became the first major restaurant brand to partner with Strava, using Segment Challenges that reward fans for maintaining active lifestyles and working toward personal wellness goals.

No Quitters Day

The second Friday of January is known as Quitters Day, the day people are most likely to forfeit New Year's resolutions.

Chipotle wanted to ignite a rebrand to "No Quitters Day" to help their guests sustain healthy habits all month and win January with Lifestyle Bowls. 

Ultimately, the objective was to increase visibility, relevance, and build brand love for Chipotle among their target audience across key cities in the United States.

We learned that Chipotle fandom runs deep in the athletic community, and the brand was impressed with the dedication of Strava users to engage so readily at this scale. With more than 190,000 athletes competing across 6 cities (L.A., NYC, Washington DC, Chicago, Columbus and Denver), the challenge generated significant press coverage resulting in more than 700 million earned media impressions.

There were many stories of genuine passion to win the prize of Lifestyle Bowls for a Year, summed up by how competitors in Los Angeles banded together to enact a five-way tie. Thrilled by the passion and community, Chipotle awarded all five athletes with the grand prize.

The activation didn't just drive top of funnel awareness. It drove real sales for Chipotle, with Lifestyle Bowl revenues increasing by 20%.

The activation even received coverage from acclaimed podcast This American Life. Hear directly from two athletes who raced head-to-head all the way to the final moments of the Washington D.C. competition here.