Update: Media landed at Minneapolis agency, Compass Point Media.
AgencySpy has confirmed with a representative from Chipotle that the restaurant is ending its relationship with San Francisco based Butler Shine Stern & Partners. Creative differences were cited as the reason for the split, which comes almost exactly one year after the two first paired.
According to the client, there are no plans to seek a replacement for the agency, which had handled both creative and media. However, “an announcement is imminent” regarding a deal with a so-far unnamed media firm, which will take over media buying and planning duties.
TNS Media Intelligence estimated that in 2007, Chipotle spent $7 million on measured media and another $9 million in the first nine months of 2008.
Creative work will be handled by the company’s in-house team, which has been producing advertisements (mostly print and outdoor) since the burrito-maker’s inception, the representative confirmed.
BSSP was not available for comment by the time this story was published.