We helped Chipotle successfully enter the metaverse & give away $1,000,000 worth of Free Burritos
by Brooke Elverston Jordan
october 28th 2021
To celebrate the 21st year of Boorito, a fan favorite Halloween event, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) became the first restaurant brand to open a virtual location on Roblox.
In years past, Chipotle has offered buzz-worthy deals on burritos to in-restaurant, costumed fans on Halloween. This year, the Boorito went virtual. Chipotle launched the Roblox Boorito Maze experience, offering $1 Million in free burritos to the first 30,000 users to be redeemed on Halloween.
The Chipotle-metaverse was launched October 28th giving fans the chance to snag a free burrito, dress up in new Chipotle-inspired costumes, and navigate the Chipotle Boorito Maze to unlock exclusive virtual items upon reaching its center [1].
Why Roblox?
Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation. At its core, Roblox is not a video game. Roblox is a platform that allows users to program and play games created by other users. Today, Roblox has 20 million games or “experiences” available to their 43.2 million daily active users worldwide.
Roblox’s unique platform offers brands and marketers the opportunity to tap into their massive user-base by building their own metaverse-type shared experience. Brands can utilize the always-on interactive experience to engage with gamers across the world in a new and impactful way.
Some of the world’s largest brands, including Nike, Disney, Warner Bros, Gucci, and now Chipotle, have added the Roblox Metaverse to their marketing toolbox, launching unique experiences to a brand-hungry audience.
“As brands think about how they come to the metaverse, they shouldn't necessarily think of it in the same way as their mobile strategy or console games. It's really: what is your metaverse strategy? How do you want people to engage with your brand and what is going to benefit them in the experience?” says Christina Wootton, Vice President of Brand Partnerships at Roblox [2].
The journey to the metaverse is not without risk. Non-endemic brands are weary of the lack of testing and data derived from previous meta-launches, and have called upon traditional influencer marketing techniques to mitigate risk, bolster their reach, and ensure campaign success.
Chipotle did this best, partnering with Thinknoodles, Crusader Creator and family friendly variety gaming creator on YouTube, to announce and showcase the Roblox Boorito Maze experience. Tapping into his massive following of over 8 Million subscribers, Thinknoodles promoted Chipotle’s virtual restaurant, and generated over one million impressions across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.
This wasn’t Thinknoodles’ first time stepping into the metaverse. Thinknoodles has collaborated with some of the world’s largest music artists to promote their Roblox virtual experiences, including Lil Nas X, Zara Larsson and Youtuber/Boxer/Musician KSI, with much success.
So how did it work for Chipotle?
The Boorito Maze experience went live at 6:30PM ET on October 28th, just before the several-day long Roblox server outage Roblox began, sending the 40 million+ daily active users into a frenzy of speculation.
Although Roblox clarified that “... We know that this outage was not related to any specific experiences or partnerships on the platform.”, this didn't stop fans from speculating that Chipotle was to blame for the crash [3].
Unfortunate timing… or was it?
Concerned gamers, parents, and content creators alike took to social media to troll burritos as the reason for the outage, generating MILLIONS of impressions, and national coverage from TheSun.com, Chicago Tribune, TheNationalNews.com, and countless other publications.
Upon Roblox’s return, the Chipotle Experience launched, and the metaverse was widely touted as a marketing victory.
What does this mean for the Metaverse?
Chipotle became the first restaurant brand to open a virtual location on Roblox, and the widespread success and media coverage has us waiting for the next announcements of brands stepping into the metaverse.
“The events of the 18 months have opened an opportunity for marketers to see that the metaverse is something they need to lean into more,” said Wootton “We’re not seeing the emergence of specific teams dedicated to the idea of the metaverse yet but we are hearing more say they’re building one just like they did for social media several years ago.” [4]
Influencers get ready!
Chipotle’s successful launch served as the proving-ground for the importance of content creator involvement and influencer marketing strategy in the metaverse. We already know the next brands stepping into Roblox.
Spoiler: they’re huge.