Kyler Murray has an extensive resume. He won the Heisman Trophy, was a first-round pick in the 2018 NFL and MLB drafts and won the starting quarterback position for the Arizona Cardinals. But Murray isn’t just a signal caller on the field—he’s also a signal caller on the chess board.
When Chipotle learned Murray was a fan of both chess and its Mexican fast-food fare, the chain combined the two in the best way it knew how: by sending him a Chipotle-themed chess set.
“We saw Kyler Murray going into Chipotle in Phoenix all the time and we found out he liked chess,” says Chris Brandt, chief marketing officer of Chipotle. “So, we made him a custom Chipotle chess set.”
The gesture wasn’t entirely altruistic—it was a marketing tactic, one of the many short-term activations that Chipotle has pursued with athletes in an effort to connect with consumers. Last month, the company launched a new campaign through which customers can eat like the pros by ordering an all-star lineup’s meals of choice.
“We found that when we shared the athletes’ orders, that those were really popular for people and it really shows they’re legitimate Chipotle users,” Brandt says. “They’re not just salespeople for the company.”
Though the restaurant has offered athlete-inspired meals in the past—teaming up with NFL players Chase Young and Justin Fields, NBA player Tyler Herro and skateboarding maven Tony Hawk—this campaign, called “Team Chipotle,” features its largest curated menu to date, exclusively through the Chipotle app or website. It comes just two months after the company reported digital sales grew 133.9% to $869.8 million in the first quarter, representing the majority (50.1%) of sales for the first time.
The campaign also includes the brand’s first national television ad starring a professional athlete. In the ad spot, Julie Ertz, a defensive midfielder on the United States Women’s National Team, can be seen training before eating her favorite Chipotle bowl: steak, brown rice, black beans, fajita veggies, fresh tomato salsa, roasted chili-corn salsa, romaine lettuce and guacamole. A long-time fan of the company—she and her husband, NFL player Zack Ertz, even had their first date at Chipotle—her personal connection with the brand made her a no-brainer to for the campaign.
“We don’t have these big multimillion dollar partnerships with people. That’s not what we want to do. That’s not our style,” Brandt says. “We want folks who are big fans of the brand and we’re fans of theirs. We’re telling their story and they’re telling a little bit how Chipotle has fit in their story for their life.”
This strategy isn’t new: McDonald’s, for example, has long pursued short-term partnerships, launching its first celebrity-inspired meal with Michael Jordan in 1992. Though fans of Ertz and fellow Olympians such as Alix Klineman and Michael Norman may seem like Chipotle’s obvious target audience, marketing consultant Tim Parkin says partnerships like these stand to attract the masses.
“One of the interesting things about doing the celebrity or athlete meals at Chipotle in particular is that it lets you explore and push your boundaries a little bit,” he says. “It brings that human relatable connection, but also lets the user have an easier time because people love not having choices. This is why fast food is all about the number three—you don't want to have to think about what you want, and you just want to get a package of something. By having these athlete meals, it adds credibility but also lets the user have an easier experience deciding to try something new.”
Chipotle’s marketing has increasingly intersected with the sports world in recent years: In 2019, it teamed up with esports company ESL and gaming festival DreamHack to launch an amateur esports competition, and earlier this year, it aired its first Super Bowl ad, “Can a Burrito Change the World?” highlighting the company’s environmental efforts. And Brandt says this latest campaign won’t be its last.
“I want athletes who organically love the brand. I want to celebrate athletes, as people, not just as the star athlete, but what makes them tick, what's behind the scenes,” he says. “In a world that just seems so divisive all the time, here's something we can get behind.”
