How Many Floors are in Your Hotel?
Chipotle is a big brand now, but William Espey, head of creative, still has the balls to act like an upstart. He’s not afraid to confuse people, piss people off and have fun for the sake of having fun. So how does he do all that and still keep Chipotle growing through a massive recession?
One of William’s big tenets is levels of meaning. How many levels of meaning can be incorporated into a piece of communication? I think of it as floors in a hotel. How many stories high can I go when I’m coming up with ideas for a piece?
The copy on their new billboards is a perfect illustration: “At Chipotle, we like to talk about why meat raised without hormones tastes so delicious, but the ad agency insisted we be direct.”
How many levels of meaning are there in this headline? 1. We use meat raised without horomones. 2. It tastes delicious. 3. We don’t listen to ad agencies. 4. We respect the intelligence of our customer base. 5. We have the insouciance to put 24 words on a billboard. I could keep going.
My favorite example of this is the new Chipotle bags. Designers will get the joke right away. 95% of people who see the bags won’t. That takes balls. It also takes brilliance. One, because even people who don’t get it will realize that Chipotle isn’t making everything insultingly easy to understand like Taco Bell. I think people like a little mystery. It intrigues them, makes them feel respected and it’s just plain fun. Two, because people like me, and these guys, and these guys, have blogged about it. Free advertising.
I love the multi-floor philosophy because it addresses a central truth in advertising that too often gets ignored: ads go out to a lot of people. They don’t just go out to people who want a simple message, they also go out to people who want a complex message, people who like it when you’re direct and people who like having something to chew on. If you can communicate to a wide strata of people with one piece of communication, you’re a talented motherfucker. If you can come up with something fun enough to go viral when it isn’t supposed to be a viral execution, I want to study under you.
So how many floors can you make your hotels? And more importantly, can you sell somebody on having a floor at the top that’s just absolute nonsense?
Chipotle Advertising at its best.
And here’s the funny thing: I love their marketing and premise, but I HATE their food with the fire of 1000 suns. I despise cilantro, and it’s mixed into every food item they produce. Just goes to show you: even the best marketing in the world doesn’t a customer make.
There is a gene that determines whether or not we like cilantro. I used to hate it so much it was the first word I learned when I went to India because they garnish everything with it. And while I agree with you that marketing can’t make you enjoy the flavor of something or a product that doesn’t fit your life, I tip my cap to marketing that moves someone who doesn’t even like the product. I love your comments with the fire of 1000 little plastic cups of the spicy salsa. I don’t think that has cilantro in it.
Maybe I’m just not genius enough to understand, but why is it so brillant to print lorem ipsum on the side of a bag? Did they do some sort of market study that found Chipotle is the restaurant of choice among graphic designers? Sure it takes balls, but it seems so random and misdirected. I’m sure the 5% are laughing, but the 95% are just plain confused.
Greeking is filler. It’s a substitute for the real thing. It shows the surface look and feel while the real content will have to come later. Not sure that is such a good association for Chipotle. The whole idea of poking fun at the ad industry is insincere because they’re using all of the industry tricks. If you don’t believe in printing a message on the bag, then don’t waste the ink.
KC
That is a good point. I never thought about the fact that Greeking is used as a placeholder until the real text comes in.
But it reminds me of John Lennon singing “Goo Goo G’Joob” in I Am the Walrus.
I think that phrase had some meaning to John, even though it was jibberish to the rest of us.
If a person assumes, as I do, that jibberish has its own meaning, then its not filler. It is real content.
I think this discussion validates the realness of that content pretty well.
Kristin,
I wonder if there are people who felt alienated by the greeking. I’m going to ask William if they’ve had any complaints from customers.
I suspect however that the vast majority of the plain confused don’t care enough for it to bother them. The bag has already satisfied all their needs:
It holds burritos, it says Chipotle, and it’s recycled paper. That’s the beauty of randomness, it delights the 5% without pissing off everyone else.
The people who just want a nice room and a comfortable bed don’t worry about the crazy floors at the top of the hotel as long as those people don’t keep them from enjoying their stay.
Erudite gibberish is still better than the inane bullshit on the side of the McDonald’s bag, in my opinion. I’d prefer they not assume I’m part of the lowest common denominator and expect my little zombie brain to go click-whirr and comply. Have you read Influence by Cialdini, by any chance? Fun stuff there on stroking our inner lizards.
I found BFL site through the Denver Egotist. It’s awesome, for lack of a better word. KUDOS.
Anyway, like KC said, “Greeking is filler.” It’s just waiting for the real content. In this case, the real content is inside the bag. True, a lot of people won’t get it. But it’s like a great billboard, it makes you want to find out what it’s about. You ask questions. You might even go on their website. You might even (god forbid) write about it on your blog. That’s their target audience. Thinking people. People with some, but not a ton, of disposable income and halfway discerning taste buds. I guess it’s not for everyone…if it was, it would suck.
I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of Chipotle’s strategic smarts Jeff. I really love the design you’ve done for Pinche Tacos. I love tacos too, I need to try them! http://www.seesawcreative.com
@Fernando
Thanks Man. I appreciate it!
Yo, Fernando!
I’ve been out of the country for 2 years and oddly, the thing my wife and I miss the most is Chipotle. It will be our first dinner when we return in 19 days.
As for the bag, I’m sure they did it because they thought it was funny. Which is the best possible reason to do it, IMHO. What is cool about that is that agencies, who who are generaaly desparate to do things in the hopes that other people will think it’s funny, would only do this if a production person screwed up.
In other words, they are giving everyone the middle finger.