Last summer, Chipotle, Willie Nelson, and a team of animators teamed together to create an unexpectedly moving two-minute short to promote sustainable food practices (video below).
While "Back to the Start" played in 10,000 movie theaters and has been viewed over four million times on YouTube, the 19-year-old burrito chain will now premiere the spot as their first-ever national TV advertisement during Sunday night's Grammys.
It's particularly fitting because the animation is set to the soundtrack of 10-time Grammy winner Willie Nelsen singing Coldplay's Grammy nominated song "The Scientist".
Last year's Grammy telecast drew 26 million viewers, so an even larger audience will be able to appreciate the 1,230 store chain's humane farming efforts.
“We have always understood the importance of serving food that is raised right, but that is a difficult thing to communicate with the limitations of traditional advertising," said Steve Ells, founder, chairman, and co-CEO of Chipotle, which increased its revenue by 23.6 percent last year to $2.3 billion. "‘Back to the Start’ tells the story of a farmer’s journey from traditional farming to an industrial food production model, then back to his roots of traditional farming again – a story that tracks closely with some of our suppliers and that demonstrates why we think it is so important to serve food made with ingredients from more sustainable sources.”
Rather than use an ad agency, Chipotle went to Hollywood talent group Creative Artists Agency to create the spot. Ells created the script with London-based director Johnny Kelly.
At the end of the ad, the farmer and his family are shown happily cavorting with the pigs, cows, and chickens in stop-motion animation. (Although the piggies still end up as carnitas, of course.).
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