Will Chipotle Recover From Their Year of Mishaps?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year, you’ll know that Chipotle hasn’t had a great 12 months.

When the E. coli outbreak happened in 2015, hundreds of customers across most states were affected, and Chipotle has suffered a double-digit fall in stock price as a direct result.

Considering the sticky situation the company is in, it makes sense that their next move (after clearing up the food safety issues, of course) is to launch a new marketing campaign to reel former customers back in.

Both a new marketing campaign and a customer loyalty program, called Chiptopia, were both slated to launch July 1. The marketing campaign was meant to assure customers of Chipotle’s return to their promise of “high-quality” food and the Chiptopia program will tempt returning customers with the promise of free entrees, chips, and guacamole as they collect more “points” for each purchase.

With a reassuring marketing program, rewards program, and some time out of the public view on their side, it seemed like things could be looking up for Chipotle.

And then everything hit the fan.

On June 30th, one of Chipotle’s chief executives, Mark Crumpacker, was indicted in a huge cocaine bust in New York City. Crumpacker has since been put on administrative leave, but this press has done exactly what Chipotle was trying to avoid: put them back in the negative limelight.

The Crumpacker situation has been handled (as much as it can be), which puts Chipotle right back where they were before June 30th — only now they’ve got a little more negative press haunting them. Poor Chipotle.

Despite this recent setback, the marketing program is officially underway, starting off with an animated short called “A Love Story.”

The short follows two young kids whose ongoing competition between their juice stands turns their homegrown businesses into an overly produce, corporate nightmare. When the pair realize how far they’ve strayed from their original ideals, they join forces to provide fresh, naturally cultivated ingredients to the public.

And they have kids and a dog and it’s adorable.

As much as you want to see through the clever marketing campaign (I actually said aloud while watching the video, “We get it, Chipotle!“), it’s difficult to ignore this adorable short. It feels so honest and genuine to me, like the company has owned up to the error of their ways through these two innocent characters. It feels like a renewed promise to their customers that they know they were drifting from their original ideals of providing fresh, natural foods, and that they’re going to change for the better.

And so far, the response from the general public has reflected my thoughts. Overall, people seem to be accepting Chipotle’s apology and are looking forward to more from this genuine marketing campaign.

Did we all just fall for a corporate trick? I hope not.

Regardless, between this appealing campaign and the unveiling of the Chiptopia loyalty program earlier this month, it seems more than likely that Chipotle may be able to make a miraculous comeback.

However, the investment community is still skeptical that these pleas to the public will do anything to amend Chipotle’s disastrous numbers. It’s not hard to see why; even after Chipotle’s food had been “safe” for some time, many of the company’s loyal customers had since bailed for other options like Moe’s.

Conjectures aside, nothing will be made clear on the company’s fate until the end of Quarter 2 on September 30th, when Chipotle will release their latest numbers.