Chipotle has named Vice-owned Carrot Creative as its first social media agency of record, following a review which included six undisclosed agencies, AdAge reports.
Carrot Creative will be responsible for social content, analytics, strategy and consulting, monitoring and some paid content across channels including Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram, beginning in January, Chipotle director, digital marketng Jackson Jeyanayagam told the publication. “What you hear from us on social will sound the same as in a restaurant, a game or piece of content, but our audience lives and breathes social, and they’re there constantly trying new things, so we have to be there too and continue to be relevant with them,” he added.
The appointment comes in the wake of the chain’s recent food safety scare, for which it ran a full-page apology in about 60 newspapers nationwide, while also linking to the letter from its @ChipotleTweets account. When asked if Carrot would be tasked with creating work addressing the recent E. coli outbreak, Jeyanayagam responded that the agency’s efforts would “not be reactive.”
In the past, Chipotle has been notable for some non-traditional marketing, including packaging featuring original works from famous writers and an original comedy series called “Farmed and Dangerous.” It seems likely that Carrot will continue Chipotle’s offbeat message when it begins crafting social campaigns for the brand next year.