
Chipotle Scarecrow is the future of advergaming on mobile - alamgir_mand
http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/30/chipotle-scarecrow-is-the-future-of-advergaming-on-mobile/
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jonnathanson
This is a good writeup about an extremely interesting subject, and the
beginning of what is sure to be a major trend. But the author kind of lost me
here:

 _" Chipotle Scarecrow will, without a doubt, go down as one of the most
successful marketing campaigns in history."_

Really? On what metrics? It seems extremely successful as far as reach is
concerned, sure. It probably drove a good deal of positive brand sentiment,
which is great. But how did this campaign drive sales of burritos? How did it
drive gains in share against competitors? What was the actual ROI?

It always bugs me when people talk about "marketing" as though it's purely
about reaching eyeballs. That's a big part of _advertising_ , which is a
subset of marketing. But it's not how a successful marketing campaign is
solely measured. Especially when we're talking about marketing for a
restaurant chain. Distributing a very engaging mobile game is a wonderful and
rare accomplishment, but Chipotle is in the food business. It needs to
demonstrate that Mobile Success A led to Business Success B.

This campaign was extremely clever, creative and innovative. It was a huge hit
on mobile devices, and it garnered a great deal of attention. All of those
things are to be commended. But unless the ROI was positive, unless this
campaign really moved the needle in a major way on sales, we can't speak about
how "successful" it actually was -- let alone speak in hyperbolic terms about
how it was one of "the most successful marketing campaigns in history."

In time it may well prove to be a huge success. Perhaps even an enormous
success. But the jury is still out.

~~~
dmoy
Attribution modeling is an incredibly difficult problem, yes. Anyone who can
come up with a really good way to measure this kind of stuff is going to make
bank.

I agree that from a lot of perspectives the way people talk about branding
campaigns looks real.... iffy, for lack of a better term. Everyone knows that
it somehow works, but nobody's exactly sure how yet. Nobody can really measure
the impact yet even.

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danso
I haven't tried the game at hand, but I'll say that the Chipotle ordering app
is by far one of the most revolutionary day to day uses of the iPhone, in my
admittedly not exciting life. Build a burrito, save the order for future
purchases...at any time, just send the order to the nearest Chipotle, and when
you get there, you skip the line to pick up your order. Few other consumer
apps so impact such a traditional and frequent workflow

~~~
andrewpi
Quite puzzling why they still haven't brought that app to Android.

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gutsy
I downloaded and played the game one morning as fast as I could to get the
free burrito and never touched it again. I didn't watch the video, I didn't
read any of the crap on there...I basically just did the bare minimum and got
my free burrito.

I have a feeling that's most people who downloaded that game. I can't imagine
it brought back in a ton of revenue.

But, I could be completely wrong! Maybe most people aren't heartless bastards
who just want a free burrito!

~~~
kevinconroy
_" Maybe most people aren't heartless bastards who just want a free burrito!"_

No, most people got a free burrito and ordered a soda and/or chips with it.

And that, my friends, is Step 3: Profit!

~~~
NovemberWest
A burrito at Chipotle is something upwards of $6 (exact price varies depending
on the kind of meat, etc). The drink and chips do not begin to cover it. You
only get profit in this scenario is they become repeat customers.

~~~
kevinconroy
Or if you bring your family, friends, or co-workers with you.

~~~
NovemberWest
Fyi, fineprint:

 _EARN 1 STAR ON EVERY LEVEL TO SCORE A BUY-ONE /GET-ONE FREE CARD FOR A
BURRITO, BOWL, SALAD, OR ORDER OF TACOS AT CHIPOTLE. REWARDS ARE LIMITED. NO
PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER; VOID WHERE PROHIBITED._

Which is not the impression I had with "win a free burrito."

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diziet
The review breakdown for this app is all over the place:
[https://sensortower.com/ios/us/chipotle-mexican-
grill/app/ch...](https://sensortower.com/ios/us/chipotle-mexican-
grill/app/chipotle-scarecrow/689470205)

Getting the users was indeed a concentrated marketing effort that took quite a
bit of advertising, too.

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MaxGabriel
Maybe when they say "optimized for iPhone 4S or newer" it's just that
performance is bad, because it downloads fine for me on an iPhone 4.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chipotle-
scarecrow/id6894702...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chipotle-
scarecrow/id689470205?mt=8)

~~~
evan_
That's exactly what they mean. Apple doesn't let developers release software
that discriminates on hardware models, just OS versions and some hardware
features.

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asperous
This kind of thing kind of scares me to be honest. It's almost a peek into a
horrific dystopian future where piracy is so rampant that games, music videos,
and perhaps even movies are only made as a marketing effort and are filled
with advertising, branding, and product placement.

~~~
mertd
Your fear is misplaced.

1) The game exclusively on IOS, where piracy is minuscule. It couldn't have
been the motivator.

2) People are willing to pay for good quality and convenience instead of
pirating (e.g., Steam, Netflix, game consoles).

~~~
gdeglin
Piracy is actually very high on iOS, especially when it comes to paid apps:
"when Wind-up Knight for iOS was a paid app, the piracy rate reportedly went
80%" ([http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/07/piracy-rates-are-higher-
on-...](http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/07/piracy-rates-are-higher-on-ios-than-
on-android-developer-says/))

This is one reason why so many games are going freemium and sever backed.
(Even iAP is frequently hacked unless the purchases are stored or at least
verified on a server).

~~~
nacs
That linked article is over a year old. Each iOS device and OS release since
then has gotten harder and harder to jailbreak and 6.1.4 didn't even receive a
jailbreak till a few days ago.

I'd bet that Android piracy is far higher than iOS is at the moment.

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herbig
Reminds me of Chex Quest:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chex_Quest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chex_Quest)

